Kolkata: 

“Till I am alive, I will not let anyone rob jobs from the deserving. It is my challenge. There is a conspiracy to disable the state’s education system. The Supreme Court order does not clearly state who is deserving and who is not. We cannot accept this order,” Mamata said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today tried to dissuade the simmering anger among thousands of teachers and non-teaching personnel across the state who have been rendered jobless after a recent Supreme Court order saying, her government will ensure that all eligible candidates retain their jobs and there is no break in service.

“We will seek detailed clarification from the Supreme Court about their order and how they segregated the deserving and undeserving. Still if things go the other way, the state government will have a plan to ensure that there is no service break,” the Chief Minister said.

Mamata Banerjee was addressing a hastily convened meeting of the deprived teachers’ association at the Netaji Indoor Stadium following the Supreme Court order. On April 3, a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India had invalidated the appointment of 25,752 teachers and non-teaching staff of state-run and aided schools of West Bengal, calling the entire selection process "vitiated and tainted". The apex court had upheld an earlier order by the Calcutta High Court terming the 2016 School Service Commission panel for recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff as ‘null and void.’

Using the dias, Mamata lashed out at her opposition saying, “A dirty game is being played by some to collapse the entire education system. I had no inkling and is being dragged into this case saying that I am trying to protect some. I am ready to go to jail if anyone tries to frame me for standing with those who lost their jobs. Won't the CPI(M) politically isolate their MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya who is the main person behind all this? If there has been any mistake on part of the administration, should they not get time to rectify it. I was astonished how the outgoing CJI stayed the High Court order and the new CJI upheld it.”

“We need clarification from the court because the government has no chance to segregate among the deserving and undeserving. While we are bound by the ruling of the Supreme Court, we are taking proactive steps to ensure that the situation is handled with utmost care. We will seek modification of the order and other reliefs,” Mamata said, indicating that the state government will move the apex court with the review petition of the April 3 order. She also listed out the names of several top lawyers including Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Prashant Bhushan, Rakesh Dwivedi, Kalyan Banerjee and others, whom her government will be hiring to contest this review petition.

Referring to the Vyapam case in Madhya Pradesh, the Chief Minister said, “89 persons died after the Vyapam case came to light in Madhya Pradesh, how many have got justice? Several such anomalies have happened in Bihar and Rajasthan. What has happened there? In Tripura, over 10,000 teachers lost their jobs during the Left Front rule and the BJP came to power in that state promising reinstatement. What happened there? When the jobless sought their jobs, their heads were cracked by police batons. These are double headed snakes. Always remember, a wounded tiger is always more dangerous than a fit one.”

Urging those who have been rendered jobless by the Supreme Court order to render voluntary services in the schools. “You have not received any termination letter from the government or the education department. You should continue with your work of teaching. Teaching is a noble profession and doing some voluntary service for the time being will do no harm. Go back to your classes. We assure you that the state government will ensure that no deserving candidate is left jobless and there will be concessions and no break of service. Even if things go wrong in the Supreme Court, we have our plan B, C and D ready to tackle the situation. Do not fall into the trap of any instigation.”

In his initial reaction to the Chief Minister’s address, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP and senior lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said, “Who are the deserving ones? This is the simple question that court after court, from the High Court to the Supreme Court, have kept asking from this corrupt government. But, there was no clear reply. In fact, what Mamata is doing now is, using the deserving candidates as a shield against her rampant corruption. We think this Supreme Court verdict has brought forward this massive corruption to the fore and has also given the deserving an option to prove their mettle through a fresh recruitment process. So, those who are deserving should not cease in highlighting the deep-seeded corruption of Mamamata Banerjee’s government.”

Squarely blaming Mamata Banerjee for the teachers and non-teaching staff losing their jobs, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said, “If the government does not submit the actual list of deserving and undeserving to the court by April 15, then on April 21 we will pull her down from her chair. She is the one behind this massive corruption in the state’s education sector.

The jobless teachers and non-teaching staff have given an ‘Nabanna Chalo’ (march to state secretariat) on April 21 and the BJP has decided to join the protest without flags.

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