Kolkata, Apr 8 (PTI) Calcutta High Court judge-turned-BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Tuesday demanded that the School Service Commission (SSC) initiate the process of segregating the ineligible from eligible school staff rendered jobless after a Supreme Court order, by scrutinising OMR sheets.

Claiming that the task could easily be carried by the Commission, Gangopadhyay also said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should take immediate steps to form a committee which will help find a mechanism to save the jobs of “eligible teachers”.

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The Supreme Court on April 3 upheld a 2024 Calcutta High Court judgment annulling the recruitment of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff appointed through the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment drive, terming the entire selection process “vitiated and tainted”. Those who were rendered jobless claimed that the reason behind their plight was the inability of the SSC to differentiate between the candidates who secured employment through fraudulent means and those who did not.

Accompanied by a group of around 20 “eligible teachers”, Gangopadhyay went to the SSC office to meet its Chairman Siddhartha Majumder, but he was not present.

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The BJP Lok Sabha MP then met some other officials and handed over a memorandum demanding that the Commission begin the process of identifying the deserving candidates by checking OMR sheets which, he claimed, can easily be done by the SSC.

"If the SSC is unable to check OMRs, which must be with them, we will presume they are under pressure (not to do it). But they have to this," he said.

The Tamluk MP said he will come to the SSC office again on April 9 and meet the chairman to press for the demand.

"I am asking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to constitute a committee at the earliest to find out a mechanism so that the eligible teachers can return to service. Even now eligible and tainted candidates can be segregated,” Gangopadhyay said.

“Why can't the SSC bring out the OMR sheets, mirror image of which can be retrieved for each candidate? Is there anything to hide?" he asked.

This is the second time in four days that the former judge made the suggestion to the CM.

On April 4, Gangopadhyay urged the CM to form a committee comprising the advocate general and lawyers to find out a mechanism so that a deserving teacher can return to service.

He had suggested that such a panel, headed by the Education Minister, should have the School Service Commission chairman and may also have Gangopadhyay himself.

A review petition can be filed in the Supreme Court to prepare a list of all those who secured the job honestly, he had said.

The ruling TMC, however, rejected the proposal.

Education Minister Bratya Basu on Tuesday said, "When he (Gangopadhyay) was a judge, he talked like a politician. Now after becoming a BJP MP, he is talking like a judge. He should first decide in whichever role he would like to act in future."

Senior TMC MP and eminent lawyer Kalyan Bandyopadhyay on April 4 said after the Supreme Court's order, there cannot be further re-conciliation or settlement of the issue.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)