Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu seeking her intervention in ensuring that candidates selected through fair means are allowed to continue as teachers in West Bengal.
Last Thursday, the Supreme Court set aside the 25,000 teacher recruitments carried out in 2016 by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), in connection with the ongoing investigation into the teacher recruitment case.
“Since the verdict, the teachers, as well as staff who stand to be terminated, have almost given up hope of any redressal,” Gandhi wrote in his letter dated April 7.
The leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha said that a delegation from the body of affected teachers, Shikshak Shikshika Adhikar Mancha (IX-X), had met him and urged him to take up their case with the President.
The Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta high court’s April 2024 order that declared the appointments null and void. The court found no grounds to interfere with the high court’s observation that the entire selection process was compromised.
“There is no valid ground to interfere with the HC order since the appointment amounts to fraud and cheating and the entire selection is to be declared null and void as it violates Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 19 (right to fundamental freedoms),” the apex court said. However, it set aside the high court’s earlier direction that candidates must return the salaries they had received since 2016.
{{/usCountry}}“There is no valid ground to interfere with the HC order since the appointment amounts to fraud and cheating and the entire selection is to be declared null and void as it violates Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 19 (right to fundamental freedoms),” the apex court said. However, it set aside the high court’s earlier direction that candidates must return the salaries they had received since 2016.
{{/usCountry}}Also Read: SC cancels 25k teacher recruitments by WB school service commission in 2016
The decision followed petitions by the West Bengal government, the WBSSC, and affected candidates challenging the high court ruling.
Gandhi pointed out that both the Supreme Court and the high court acknowledged that some candidates were untainted.
“Any crime committed during recruitment should be condemned and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. However, treating teachers selected through fair means on par with tainted teachers is a serious injustice,” he said.
He further warned that terminating untainted teachers with nearly a decade of experience would “force lakhs of students into classrooms without adequate teachers.”
“Their arbitrary termination will destroy their morale and motivation to serve and deprive their families of what is often the sole source of income,” he added, urging the President to consider the plea of affected teachers and to push for government intervention so that those recruited fairly can continue working.