The Supreme Court, last week, invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools, and termed the entire selection process “vitiated and tainted”.
West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant on Wednesday said the government would soon file a review petition in the Supreme Court regarding its order to invalidate over 25,000 jobs. He further urged the teachers to continue working in their respective schools to ensure that the state’s education system does not collapse.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict dated April 22, 2024, annulling the appointments. The Top Court termed the entire selection process “vitiated and tainted” and invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools.
Urged teachers to not involve in any confrontations
Pant further urged the teachers to wait for the legal solution to the issue and not get involved in any confrontations the administration. “It has come to our notice that teachers were seen attending schools and interacting with students. I would like to congratulate them. I will appeal to them not to get involved in anything that would affect the steps we are planning to take. I would like to assure them that the government is trying to find a solution to the problem legally,” Pant added.
“We have already filed a clarificatory petition in which we have requested the SC to allow us to continue with the existing (education) system. We are waiting for the SC’s directive. We are trying to find a solution from a humanitarian perspective. We will follow the SC directive to take our next steps,” the IAS officer explained.
“The state education department is taking steps to comply with the SSC directive. We are concentrating on the 10 points they have given us at the Netaji Indoor Stadium,” he said. He also added that the government will not delay filing it at the Supreme Court.
Spoke about the Kasba DI office incident
Pant further spoke about the confrontation at the Kasba DI office and said the incident is unfortunate, and this situation is being unnecessarily escalated. The government does not want such an occurrence to happen again and will handle the situation with a humanitarian approach.
(PTI inputs)