Kolkata, Sep 1 West Bengal Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Monday wrote to state Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, urging the Mamata Banerjee government to send a proposal to the Supreme Court to reinstate the untainted School Service Commission (SSC) teachers to their previous positions.
In a letter to the chief secretary, Bengal LoP said, “Three Untainted Teachers’ Associations met me at the South Gate of the Assembly House. These associations are: West Bengal Untainted Teachers’ Association, Shikshak Shika Adhikar Mancha (IX-XII) and Rashtravadi Shikshak and Shikshakarmi Samaj. They expressed their views on resolving the issue of reinstating untainted teachers."
The BJP leader mentioned that the School Service Commission (SSC) has already identified and published the names of 1806 (one thousand eight hundred six) Tainted Teachers.
"We presumed the remaining teachers are untainted and should be reinstated. As the principal Opposition of West Bengal, we request you to submit a proposal to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India on behalf of the Government of West Bengal. The proposal should seek reinstatement of all untainted teachers to their previous positions, excluding the 1806 Tainted Teachers identified by the School Service Commission (SSC)," said Adhikari.
The move from the LoP came days after West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) published the list of tainted and ineligible candidates as per the Supreme Court's order, who were barred from taking part in the recruitment process, exams of which are scheduled on September 7 and 14. There are 1806 names in that list.
Among them are the names of several people close to or relatives of Trinamool Congress leaders. Meanwhile, about 350 tainted and ineligible School Service Commission (SSC) candidates on Monday approached the Calcutta High Court, seeking to participate in the new recruitment process, after contesting that the WBSSC did not follow rules in publishing the list and claimed that there were some discrepancies in it.
Earlier in the day, Adhikari said that the BJP would support an all-party resolution to retain “eligible” teachers in their school jobs if the Mamata Banerjee government tabled such a motion in the House during the ongoing three-day special session in the state Assembly.
These eligible teachers are among the nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff in state-run schools, whose appointments were annulled by the Supreme Court in April on grounds that the recruitment process was “tainted and vitiated” beyond redemption.
Speaking to reporters outside the assembly premises after the first day’s session, Adhikari said he advised the chief whip of the BJP Legislative Party, Shankar Ghosh, to write to Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee requesting a 30-minute slot to discuss the matter on September 4.
"I will personally write to the state Chief Secretary Manoj Pant before the end of the day today and urge him to move the Supreme Court once again, this time armed with this unanimous all-party assembly resolution and pray before the top court to consider allowing the untainted teachers to retain their jobs," he said.
--IANS
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