Ready to go to jail to protect those who lost jobs in Bengal schools: CM Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that she was even ready to go to jail to protect the rights of the eligible among the 25,752 teachers and non-teaching school employees, who found themselves in trouble after the Supreme Court recently annulled their appointment for malpractices in the recruitment process.

“Even if I have to go to jail, I will keep fighting to ensure that no eligible candidate has to lose their job. This is my promise,” the Chief Minister said as she addressed the teachers and non-teaching school employees, agitated by the impending livelihood crisis, at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata. Her pledge, however, could not reassure many of the school employees, who alleged that they had been appointed on the basis of their eligibility but would now lose their jobs along with those who had managed to get recruited through unfair means despite not being eligible.

Banerjee said that the state administration would move the Supreme Court seeking a clarification from the apex court, and if necessary, would file a review petition in order to safeguard the interests of eligible candidates. “If the clarification (from the Supreme Court) does not go in our favour, we will make alternative arrangements within two months. No eligible candidate will be jobless,” she said, adding: “The state government has not sent any termination letters. You can continue working at the schools voluntarily.”

Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress government has been at the receiving end of criticism by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) ever since the Supreme Court on April 3 upheld the Calcutta High Court’s April 22, 2024, verdict invalidating the appointment of the government school employees, who had been recruited by the state’s School Services Commission (SSC) in 2016. With the next assembly elections in West Bengal just about a year away, the BJP and the CPI(M) have been citing the verdicts of the Supreme Court as a vindication of their allegation about large-scale corruption by the ruling TMC’s leaders, including in government recruitment.

The Chief Minister’s appeal to the school employees to continue to go to their workplaces and serve voluntarily while the state government finds a way out triggered murmurs from the audience as they questioned why they should work without salaries after getting the jobs on the basis of eligibility and merit.

“I am here speaking in the language of law. Please try to understand,” Banerjee said, adding: “Continue teaching and educating without worry. If you suffer for two months now, you won’t have to suffer for the next 20 years.” She also announced that the state government would appoint eminent lawyers Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal, Rakesh Dwivedi, Kalyan Banerjee, and Prashant Bhushan to represent it and the affected candidates in the Supreme Court. “We will explore all legal avenues, including seeking clarification and modification of the judgment. We are ready with plans A, B, C, D, and E,” the Chief Minister said.

She said that her government would first take care of the interests of the school employees who had been appointed on the basis of eligibility and merit, before looking into the reasons why the others were being branded as ‘ineligible’ and the evidence in support of the allegation that they had got the jobs through unfair means.

“We are not here to disobey the Supreme Court. We will act strictly within the legal framework. But I must say, the administration wasn’t given enough time to rectify the mistakes,” she said.

The TMC supremo reiterated her allegation that the BJP and the CPI(M) had hatched a conspiracy to destabilise the state education system. The ruling party will take out a rally to denounce this conspiracy.