BJP today hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee over the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Calcutta High Court order to cancel the appointment of over 25 thousand teachers in the state’s schools.
Briefing the Media in New Delhi, the Party’s National Spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged corruption in teachers’ recruitment in the state. He accused that corruption was to the extent that people were forced to go to court. Mr Patra claimed that a huge bribe for jobs scam is going on in West Bengal.
The apex court’s judgment, which marked a major setback to the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, has sparked widespread criticism from the BJP and the CPI(M) against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“In our opinion, this is a case wherein the entire selection process has been vitiated and tainted beyond resolution. Manipulations and frauds on a large scale, coupled with the attempted cover-up, have dented the selection process beyond repair and partial redemption. The credibility and legitimacy of the selection are denuded,” CJI Khanna said, pronouncing the verdict.
“We find no valid ground or reason to interfere with the direction of the High Court that the services of tainted candidates, where appointed, must be terminated, and they should be required to refund any salaries/payments received. Since their appointments were the result of fraud, this amounts to cheating. Therefore, we see no justification to alter this direction,” the verdict stated.
“For candidates not specifically found to be tainted, the entire selection process has been rightly declared null and void due to the egregious violations and illegalities, which violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. As such, the appointments of these candidates are cancelled. However, candidates who are already employed need not be asked to refund or restitute any payments made to them. However, their services will be terminated. Furthermore, no candidate can be appointed once the entire examination process and results have been declared void,” it added.
Mamata Banerjee said she has the highest regard for the judiciary but could not accept the Supreme Court’s verdict invalidating the appointments of 25,753 teachers and other staff in State-run schools.