BJP demands Mamata's resignation after SC invalidates appointment of 26 000 teachers

    Kolkata, Apr 3 (PTI) The West Bengal BJP on Thursday demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the "plight" of around 26,000 teachers whose jobs were invalidated by the Supreme Court.
    The apex court on Thursday invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools in West Bengal, terming their selection process "vitiated and tainted".
    "The sole responsibility for this massive corruption in teacher recruitment lies with the failed Chief Minister of the state, @MamataOfficial. The Supreme Court's verdict has made it clear how, under Mamata Banerjee's rule, the merit of educated unemployed youth in West Bengal was sold in exchange for money!" state BJP president and Union Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar said in a post on X.
    BJP MP and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Ganguly blamed CM Banerjee for the situation, alleging that her administration’s ineptitude worsened the crisis and victimised deserving candidates.
    He added that the TMC government would be voted out of power by the people in the coming days.
    He demanded that Banerjee should take full responsibility of this "huge corruption" and resign from the post of the chief minister.
    In a video posted on X, BJP state president Majumdar expressed empathy with the deserving candidates who got their jobs "using their skills and merit but became sufferers due to corrupt mishandling of the entire recruitment process by the Mamata Banerjee government which is solely responsible for facilitating jobs to a large number of tainted teachers in an irregular manner".
    "They could not be distinguished from the deserving candidates. The corrupt Mamata Banerjee government owes an explanation to the people of the state, particularly the families of the deserving teachers," Majumdar added.
    Ganguly told reporters in Delhi, "Deserving and tainted candidates can be separated and marked if there is will. The Supreme Court has already unmasked the extent of corruption and irregularities of the TMC-run government Had the Mamata Banerjee government carried the exercise of differentiating deserving/incompetent candidates, so many deserving young touchers won't have to lose their jobs."
    Calling on the people of Bengal to oust the Mamata Banerjee government, Ganguly said, "Differentiating between deserving and non-deserving, tainted teaching job candidates is not an impossible task. Once we get the mandate under Suvendu Adhikari’s leadership in Bengal, we will complete the process in a perfect, fair and transparent manner."
    Ganguly, during his tenure as the former judge of Calcutta High Court, had first taken up the SSC recruitment case leading to the investigation into the big scam by central agencies and arrest of several TMC and government heavyweights in connection with the scandal since 2022.
    TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen said the party respects the judgment and asserted that it has always been against corruption.
    "We hope that the state government will examine the order and take appropriate steps after speaking to legal experts. The party will always stand with the deserving candidates," she added.
    Hundreds of teachers, who had qualified the 2016 recruitment examinations conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), had been staging a sit-in in the heart of Kolkata for months, requesting that the merits of their cases be considered and validated by the judiciary while giving the judgment.
    Many of them broke down in tears after hearing about the verdict.
    An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict dated April 22, 2024, annulling the appointments.
    Pronouncing the verdict, the CJI said that the employees, whose appointments have been annulled, are not needed to return their salaries and other emoluments.
    The top court also ordered the state government to initiate a fresh selection process and complete it within three months.
    It, however, made relaxation for the disabled employees on humanitarian grounds, saying they would remain in the job.
    The bench fixed the West Bengal government's plea challenging the high court direction for a CBI probe for hearing on April 4.
    On February 10, the top court reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions in the matter.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)