'Mamata government sacrificed us to save Trinamool Congress'

Days after the Supreme Court Division Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar ruled that 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff recruited in West Bengal through a process riddled with corruption, manipulation, and fraud stand sacked, many job-losers, lawyers and politicians are convinced that it was due to a plan hatched by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her advisers to save her Trinamool Congress members who allegedly collected money from the job applicants.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

On Thursday, faced with the impossible task of detecting those who had paid money allegedly to Trinamool Congress cadres doubling as money collectors and those who had got the jobs on merit, the Supreme Court opted to cancel the appointments of all the 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff who were selected in 2016.

The apex court reiterated the finding of a Calcutta High Court Division Bench that due to the lack of cooperation from the West Bengal government and its Staff Selection Commission, it was impossible to "separate the wheat from the chaff".

The apex court said that non-tainted candidates could apply afresh in a new recruitment process within six months, while the tainted ones would have to return all the money they had received since appointment, plus interest.

Thursday's mass job terminations have sparked anger and anxiety among affected teachers and staff who face the daunting prospect of losing their livelihoods and social prestige. Despair, hopelessness and dismay are writ large on the faces of the teachers who lost their jobs following the Supreme Court judgement.

After the verdict, Mamata Banerjee said: “It is not only about 26,000 losing their jobs. It is about 26,000 families involving lakhs of people. Our government will stand by these families.”

However, job-losers are not convinced.