School teachers and other staff whose jobs were terminated as per directions of Calcutta High Court gather in Kolkata. | Photo Credit: DEBASISH BHADURI
The Supreme Court on Monday is likely to hear the special leave petition of the West Bengal government challenging the Calcutta High Court order on termination of jobs of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in State government-sponsored and aided schools.
These appointments were made through the State Level Selection Test 2016 and the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on April 22 declared the selection process “null and void.”
The corruption in the school jobs has been rocking the politics of the State since July 2022, when former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate after more than ₹50 crore was recovered from the residence of his close aide.
However, the High Court order amid the ongoing Lok Sabha polls has turned the election campaign in Bengal on its head. Not only the sheer magnitude of termination of 25,753 employees but the years of protests of job aspirants who have been hitting the streets for the past two years demanding fresh recruitment has emerged as a key issue of the election campaign in the State.
Mamata’s stand
Braving allegations of corruption in the recruitment process, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been targeting the BJP and accusing everyone from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lawyers of the CPI(M) and a section of judiciary for the termination of jobs. “These are people who eat away their jobs. The Prime Minister here only did a drama and said it is because of the Trinamool Congress. This is the Prime Minister who takes away jobs,” the Chief Minister said, addressing an election meeting at Kaliachak on Sunday.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson went on to accuse the BJP of controlling the court and said those behind the job losses are lawyers of the CPI(M) who have support of the Congress. The High Court, in its order, also directed the employees to return the salaries with 12% interest, something which the Chief Minister has been criticising at every public meeting since April 22.
The TMC leadership is also organising protests by employees whose services have been terminated. A protest was organised at Tamluk where former Calcutta High Court Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay is contesting on a BJP ticket.
It was Mr. Gangopadhyay who gave orders directing the CBI probe into the school job recruitment. While the Division Bench order has vindicated his direction, the decision of the former judge to contest polls has given a handle to the TMC to allege bias in the judiciary.
Modi’s attack on TMC
Mr. Modi on February 26 at an election rally made a scathing attack on the TMC. “About 26,000 people lost their livelihoods due to the massive recruitment scam. Those who took loans and gave them to the TMC [to get jobs] are on the roads now,” the Prime Minister had said.
Before the Calcutta High Court order, Sandeshkhali unrest and allegations of sexual assault and land grab were the key issues of the Opposition parties but now allegations of corruption are dominating the political rhetoric.
Despite the Calcutta High Court order, the State government has gone ahead with the deployment of dismissed employees in the election process. Thousands of teaching and non-teaching staff, whose jobs have been terminated, have been employed in the poll process. Sources said the State government has given its nod to credit full salary to these employees.
The State government is likely to highlight the deployment of terminated employees in the ongoing election process to seek a stay on the Calcutta High Court order, when the matter comes before the Supreme Court. The termination of employees has become an election issue and the TMC is going to use the ongoing polls to seek a stay on the order.
