In a relief to Group C and D non-teaching staff, whose appointments were cancelled by the Supreme Court and did not get reprieve like the teachers, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday announced financial assistance for them.
She also said her government would file a review petition for Group C and D non-teaching staff, along with one for the affected teachers.
She said that in case the Supreme Court rejected the review plea, her government would explore alternative measures to support them.
Around 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff of state-aided schools lost their jobs after the Supreme Court, on April 3, scrapped the entire 2016 recruitment panel due to large-scale irregularities. Though the apex court later allowed the services of untainted teachers to continue till December 31, the relief was not extended to Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ non-teaching staff, saying that it was mainly concerned about academic activities in schools not facing disruption due to the absence of a large number of teaching staff.
“We will go for a review petition for the teachers as well as for the Group C and D staff in the top court. We are seeking legal advice in this case,” she said while addressing the non-teaching employees’ concerns.
Banerjee added that she was not in a position to comment on ‘tainted’ and ‘untainted’ teachers, as she was yet to receive any official list.
She added that Group C employees would receive Rs 25,000 and Group D employees Rs 20,000, pending the outcome of the review petition.
“Till there is a decision on the review petition, we will provide this support. See if they agree to it,” she said, addressing the workers’ concerns.
“If the court rejects our plea, then we will think about an alternative. For now, since you are not receiving any salary, we can support you through our social security schemes,” she added.
Banerjee said the state was seeking legal advice from top lawyers so that the teachers do not lose their jobs and do not need to sit for the tests again.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties called the CM’s financial assistance for Group C and D non-teaching staff as “legally not tenable”.
CPI(M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty said the way the CM made the announcements over the speaker phone of the mobile of the chief secretary “smacks of minimum regard for democratic principles and law.”
“She declared the amount to be given to the Group C and Group D employees making a phone call. But she is not allocating the amount from her own coffer. She is spending the money from the state exchequer. While we also don’t wish the untainted non-teaching staff of state schools suffer financially, they were the victims of a vitiated recruitment process in the SSC 2016 test. Any decision of financial assistance without legal nod has possibilities to invite contempt of court charges,” Chakraborty said.