WBSSC jobs matter: PIL in Calcutta HC challenges Bengal govt's order on stipend for non-teaching staff

Kolkata, May 26 A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in Calcutta High Court, challenging the notification issued by the West Bengal government earlier this month on the launch of a new scheme under which the non-teaching staff in state-run schools in the state under Group-C and Group-D categories, losing jobs following a recent order of the Supreme Court, can be provided with a monthly stipend from the state exchequer.

In the PIL, the petitioner has challenged the notification, claiming that spending public exchequer for staff losing jobs following a Supreme Court order was illegal.

As per the notification issued earlier this month, under the proposed scheme under the state labour department christened “West Bengal Livelihood and Special Security Interim Scheme”, the job-losing Group-C staff would be entitled to a monthly stipend of Rs 25,000, while those in the Group D category would be entitled to Rs 20,000 monthly.

Those covered under the scheme will be entitled to receive the monthly stipends with effect from April 1 this year and this payment will continue until any solution as regards the legal hassles regarding their loss of jobs is achieved.

The PIL has been admitted by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das and the matter is expected to come up for hearing soon. The matter will come up for hearing after the forthcoming summer vacation recess of the Calcutta High Court.

While announcing the launch of the scheme earlier this month, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had explained that the scheme was planned under the state labour department because of the tendencies of some people and vested interests to file public interest litigations at the Calcutta High Court against any decision of the state government.

However, with the PIL being filed at the Calcutta High Court, the state government's desire to avoid a legal battle over the scheme was not fulfilled. Earlier this month, a similar case challenging the scheme was filed at the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha, which was also admitted.

On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld a previous order of the Calcutta High Court that annulled 25,753 school appointments made through the WBSSC.

The apex court observed that the panel had to be scrapped entirely due to the authorities' failure to distinguish between "tainted" and "untainted" candidates.

The state government and the WBSSC have since filed review petitions in the Supreme Court seeking reconsideration of the order.

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