West Bengal to challenge Calcutta High Court decision to declare 2016 test ‘null and void’ in SC, says Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI File

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Monday that the state government will challenge the High Court’s decision to declare the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) selection process in state-sponsored and aided schools null and void, resulting in the cancellation of approximately 24,000 jobs.

The state chief minister stated, “We challenge the verdict, as it affects 1.5-2 lakh families. Is it possible to return the salary of eight years in 4 weeks?”

Those who were wrongfully appointed were ordered by the court to refund their wages within six weeks.

“Snatching jobs of 26,000 people. No matter what happens, we will continue the fight. Those who lost their jobs should not be depressed,” Banerjee said.

She said, “We stand beside you and we will continue to do so. This was the order of someone who has now joined the BJP.”

“Supreme Court had set this aside and called for a new division bench. But who will constitute the new division bench? Justice is crying “, she added.

Hundreds of school job seekers waiting outside the courthouse cheered and burst into tears moments after the high court issued the judgement.

“We had been waiting for this day. After years of struggle on the streets, justice has finally been delivered,” one of them stated.

A division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi directed the CBI to conduct extra investigations into the selection process and submit a report within three months.

Furthermore, the High Court ordered the West Bengal School Service Commission to begin new appointments within the next 15 days. This judgement impacts approximately 23 lakh individuals who competed in the 2016 State Level Selection Test (SLST) for 24,640 vacant teaching and non-teaching vacancies.

The arrest of Bengal BJP politician Partha Chatterjee, a Trinamool Congress man who held the position of education minister in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet till his arrest on July 23, 2022, brought to light the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) teacher recruitment fraud.

On February 16, an Enforcement Directorate team conducted searches on Partha Chatterjee’s close colleagues in Kolkata. Following the discovery of more than Rs 1 crore worth of cash and jewellery at the home of Arpita Mukherjee, a close assistant of the former education minister, in Kolkata, Chatterjee was taken into custody. An investigation into Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee’s involvement in the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment fraud is ongoing.