Portal started to help genuine candidates whose appointments scrapped: Bengal BJP

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Calcutta high court’s order to terminate the teaching and non-teaching posts in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal

Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday launched a portal to assist genuine candidates who could be affected by the Calcutta high court’s order in which appointments of 25,753 people were cancelled.

A division bench of the Calcutta high court on April 22 cancelled the appointment of all 25,753 teachers (Representative Photo)

A division bench of the Calcutta high court on April 22 cancelled the appointment of all 25,753 teachers empanelled in 2016 for various categories of jobs at secondary and higher secondary schools in West Bengal.

On May 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing an election rally in Burdwan, directed the state BJP unit to set up a separate legal cell to provide help to “genuine” candidates who have lost jobs due to the School Service Commission (SSC) scam.

“The BJP will assist the people who got the jobs on the basis of their merit. The Prime Minister had announced it. We have launched a portal and a helpline for the genuine candidates,” said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP spokesperson.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Calcutta high court’s order to terminate the teaching and non-teaching posts in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal.

The decision came as a relief to thousands of individuals whose jobs were in jeopardy following the high court’s ruling on April 22. The order also came as a relief for the Mamata Banerjee-led government, which is facing the heat in the teacher recruitment scam probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) following orders passed by the Calcutta high court.

The issue has become a major flashpoint between the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal. While the BJP has been accusing the TMC of a multi-crore recruitment scam, in which at least three TMC legislators have been arrested, the TMC has held the BJP responsible for the appointments getting cancelled.

“We have heard of man-eating tigers. Ever heard of a job-eating political party? The BJP has eaten away the jobs. They stopped central funds to deprive Bengal, have not cleared dues worth thousands of crores of rupees and have now eaten away jobs. I felt relieved when the Supreme Court put a stay on the high court’s order,” said Mamata Banerjee, TMC supremo while addressing an election rally in Hooghly on Wednesday.