CHIEF MINISTER Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that her government would start the fresh recruitment process of teachers as per the Supreme Court directive, while simultaneously pursuing a review petition seeking reinstatement of those who lost their jobs. Banerjee said a notification for the fresh recruitment of teachers would be published on May 30, in accordance with the apex court directive.
The Supreme Court has upheld a Calcutta High Court order issued on April 3, cancelling the appointment of more than 25,752 teachers and non-teaching staff under the West Bengal School Service Commission. The Supreme Court said the entire selection process is “vitiated by manipulation and fraud” and its credibility and legitimacy “denuded”.
Banerjee said, “Much time has passed since the directive but we didn’t take any action as we thought the review petition might lead to outcomes in favour of the candidates. Since review wasn’t done till now and the matter is pending in courts, and with our hands tied …calling for a notification for advertisement by May 31, I am forced to say both processes will continue.”
She added, “As per the top court directive, we will issue a notification by May 31. However, if the review yields good results, we will accept that. Both options are open. We are doing this to ensure that there are no grounds for non-compliance of SC directives.”
She said, “After legal consultation, issue of advertisement will happen by May 30 since the deadline is May 31. I am saying it again that we will follow the review but this is being done now since time is running out. Commencement of online applications will be on June 16. The last date of online application is July 14 to keep time on our hands to ensure facilitation of review. Publication of panel will happen on November 15, because we were given dates till December. Counselling commencement will start on November 20.
She said, “If there is no justice in the review, we can do the counselling in November. The processes including written tests, scrutiny, challenge, result, interview, etc shall be completed in meantime if there is no justice in review.”
She informed that advertisement may be put out for 24,203 posts that have been deemed to be vacant. “Those who are working should continue as we will be disbursing salaries. They can do their work without worry, we can do ours,” said the CM.
According to her, apart from 24,203 vacant posts, additional vacancies have also been created. As many as 11,517 teaching posts have been created for Classes 9 and 10 whereas 6,912 vacant posts have been created for classes 11 and 12. An additional 571 vacant Group-C posts and 1,000 Group-D posts are also being created. The total vacancies to be filled are 44,203.