Kolkata, 7 April

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday assured full support to eligible candidates who lost school jobs following a Supreme Court order, asserting that her government will ensure they don't remain jobless or have a break in service.

Speaking at a meeting with those who lost their jobs after the top court verdict, Banerjee urged the affected teachers and staff to return to their respective schools and 'voluntarily' resume duties.

The apex court had on 3 April invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and staffers in state-run and aided schools in Bengal who were selected through a state School Service Commission recruitment drive in 2016, calling the entire selection process 'vitiated and tainted.'

Banerjee also assured the aggrieved teachers that she would make alternative arrangements for all deserving candidates 'within two months.'

'You can return to your schools and voluntarily resume teaching. You are still in service since no termination letter has been served to you yet. Our government is duty-bound to ensure that no deserving candidate loses a job. We have plans ready to ensure that the eligible candidates do not face any break in service. We will not allow them to remain jobless,' Banerjee said at the meeting at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here, where thousands of affected teachers had turned up.

'I will stand by those who lost their jobs in an unjust manner. I don’t care what others think. I will do everything to restore your dignity,' she said.

Asserting that the state government respects the Supreme Court ruling, Banerjee said the administration is taking proactive steps to handle the situation with 'utmost care and fairness.'

While confirming that her government will move a review petition on the apex court judgment and 'seek clarifications' on the 3 April ruling from the bench concerned, the chief minister outlined a two-phase plan to 'restore the jobs' of those whose appointments were annulled by the top court.

'In the first phase, we will look into the details of the deserving candidates and take all steps necessary to give them back the jobs they have lost,' Banerjee said.

'In phase two, we will take up the cases of the so-called tainted candidates. We will dig deep into why they were branded as ‘undeserving’, the grounds on which they were found tainted, and how the investigations that found them guilty were conducted. I will hold a separate meeting with them,' the CM said.

Banerjee appealed to the aggrieved teachers to 'trust' the government in doing its job, and said there should be no face-offs between the 'deserving' and 'tainted' candidates.

The chief minister also claimed that her name was being dragged into something about which she had 'no inkling,' referring to discrepancies in the school job appointments.

'I am ready to even go to jail if anyone wants to penalise me for standing with those who lost school jobs,' Banerjee asserted.

'One should figure out the real faces from the masks because many are now trying to mislead people with false information. There is a conspiracy to break the entire education system. A dirty game is being played by some people,' she said, in an apparent reference to the opposition BJP and the CPI(M).

Stating that she was never vindictive against the erstwhile ruling CPI(M) appointees in schools despite the alleged 'large-scale recruitment corruption' during the previous Left Front regime, Banerjee lashed out at the red brigade for taking the matter to court.

'I have never knowingly taken a job away from anyone, not even from the CPI(M) because my slogan back then was ‘No Revenge, Only Change.' Yet, lawyers of the party like Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya moved court to ensure so many people lose jobs. He must answer,' she said.