Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that the state government would comply with Supreme Court order and issue a notification for the recruitment of teachers and non teaching staff for state-aided secondary and higher secondary schools on May 30 and complete the appointments much before the December 31 deadline set by the apex court.

 

The chief minister said the state will simultaneously pursue a review petition in Supreme Court and the government would take suitable decision if the top court delivers a favourable order in response to the review plea.

 

The chief minister also announced some relaxations for the sacked teachers, but she said that the teachers will have to clear the fresh recruitment test to retain their jobs.

 

A large number of sacked teachers who have identified as “not specifically tainted” are opposed to the fresh recruitment test. Mamata said the untainted teachers will continue their service till December 31, they will be offered age relaxation and awarded additional points in the fresh test according to their experiences. The state government is also examining the option to appoint Group D and Group C employees in various government departments, who have been identified as ” tainted” and directed by Supreme Court not to return to the service.

 

” You must understand that we are doing this ( holding the fresh test), unwillingly. I did not want this to happen from my heart. You know the Supreme Court has given May 31 the deadline for issuing the notification. This is a sensitive matter and we have to publish the advertisement by May 30…..The candidates can apply online from June 16 and the last date of application is July 14″, Mamata said addressing a press conference.

 

She explained that the window for application for the candidates has been kept for a long period because the review petition will be also pursued simultaneously and if the court gives a favourable order, the government will act accordingly.

 

In case the court delivers an unfavourable order in response to the review petition filed by the state government and the state school service commission against the April 3 Supreme Court order cancelling the jobs over 25,000 school staff, the government will complete the fresh recruitment process by November as directed by the top court in its April 17 order.

 

The written test, scrutiny, publication of results, interview, counselling and preparing the panel will be completed in the meantime, the chief minister said.

 

On April 3, the Supreme Court had said that the entire recruitment process held by the state school service commission in 2016 was “vitiated” and the court cancelled the jobs of over 25,000 teachers and non teaching employees. Later, on April 17 the court in another order said that teachers who had been identified as “untainted” could  continue their services till December 31 but directed the state government to file an affidavit by May 31 regarding starting the fresh process of hiring teachers.

 

Meanwhile, a large number of untainted sacked teachers who are protesting outside Bikash Bhavan, the headquarters of the state education department, against the fresh recruitment test said they are firm in their decision on not writing the test.

 

Mamata advised the protesting teachers to take part in the test in order to retain their jobs because they can lose their jobs if the review petition gets rejected by the Supreme Court.

 

The protesting teachers, however said that the state government should prioritise pursuing the review petition.