Edu min: Eligible list, 22L OMRs to be published if law permits
Times of India | 12 April 2025
Kolkata: The list of eligible and ineligible candidates among school staffers who have lost their jobs would be published on the School Service Commission portal within April 21 subject to legal advice, Bengal education minister Bratya Basu said on Friday after a three-hour meeting with a 13-member delegation of protesting teachers. He also said 22 lakh mirror images of OMR sheets that were with CBI could also be published, again subject to legal advice.
The Supreme Court is likely to hear the state secondary education board's review petition of its order scrapping the 2016 SSC panel, and consequently jobs of 25,752 school staffers, on April 17.
With the govt agreeing to their primary demands, representatives of the protesting teachers termed the meeting productive. "We are also optimistic," they said. Later in the evening, however, the jobless teachers decided to continue their protest outside the SSC office till April 16, when they plan to hold a protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.
Shortly after Friday's meeting, Basu told reporters that SSC's list of eligible and ineligible candidates, drawn up from the 22 lakh OMR soft copies with CBI, had been placed before Calcutta HC and Supreme Court thrice in the past. "Some opposition leaders are trying to mislead the 26,000 job losers by demanding mirror images of OMR sheets, but the SSC has already put it out (in courts)," he said.
The minister appealed to the jobless school staffers to return to school. "Have faith in CM Mamata Banerjee and do not sever ties with your schools. The secondary education board's review plea will come up for hearing in SC on April 17 and we want to see who opposes it. The state will file a (separate) review petition and we are hopeful that this time it will be infallible. We are hoping for a clear direction on salary-related matters," he said.
Chinmoy Mandal, a member of the teachers' delegation said, "The meeting was productive. They listened to us carefully and accepted our demand of publishing mirror images and a detailed list of eligible and ineligible candidates based on the legal advice they receive. They assured us that these lists would be published on or before April 21. We are partially satisfied with the positive action to solve the matter."
He added that they would also seek legal advice on the issue. "We will feel relieved only after winning the legal case and getting our jobs back," he said.
The meeting, the govt's first formal engagement with the job losers, came two days after the face-off between cops and teachers in Kasba.
Senior officers, sources said, made it clear that they did not approve of any intentional wrongdoing by cops. Mehbub Mandal, a teacher who was injured in the Kasba scuffle and was part of the delegation, said, "The discussion was positive, but the protests will not stop until we get justice. The opposition parties are trying to show sympathy but we want to see the opposition lawyers' stance in court during the April 17 hearing."