Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court order that stayed the Calcutta High Court verdict of scrapping more than 25,000 school jobs, and said she is “very happy and mentally relaxed” after getting justice in the apex court. In a post on ‘X’, she wrote “Justice has prevailed.” “I am really very happy and mentally relaxed on receipt of justice at the highest Court of the land. Congratulations to the entire teaching fraternity,” she wrote further.
West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu on Tuesday hailed the SC order that stayed the Calcutta HC verdict of invalidating the appointment of 25,753 school jobs and hoped that justice would prevail in the long run. He expressed his gratitude to CM Banerjee for standing by the eligible candidates who lost their jobs after the HC order. “We are happy with the SC order and had faith in the apex court.
The judges agreed and went by our principle demands,” Basu told reporters on the sidelines of an election campaign at Krishnanagar in Nadia district.
Asked if the stay will help the TMC in the ongoing elections as the ruling party has been facing criticism over the alleged SSC scam and the arrests of two ministers and several former education officials, he said, “Everything cannot be judged by electoral gains. It’s related to basic human issues.”
Asked about the SC’s observation that the alleged scam was a “systemic fraud”, Basu said, “This (2016 SSC scam) happened before I took charge of the department. Some people are now behind bars. Present School Service Commission chairman Siddhartha Majumdar was also not at the helm at that time.”
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee hit out at the BJP for trying to “destabilise” the state government. “The Honorable Supreme Court has defused the BJP’s ‘explosive’ hurled last week to malign Bengal’s image and destabilise the West Bengal government. Truth has triumphed!,” he wrote on X.
Reacting to the development, the BJP criticised the TMC-led government for trying to stop a probe into the case by the CBI.
At a press conference in Kolkata, BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said, “The commission needs to separate qualified candidates from those who obtained positions unfairly in all other categories too. It would prevent legal issues. Those responsible for the wrongdoing need to be held accountable. CBI probe will continue. The state Government wanted to stop the probe.”