BJP demands CM Mamata Banerjee’s resignation over WB school jobs scam as per Calcutta HC verdict

PTI, Apr 22, 2024, 5:28 PM IST

The Calcutta High Court judgment cancelling the appointment of teaching and other staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools has bared the ”brazen corruption” under the Mamata Banerjee dispensation, the BJP said on Monday and demanded the chief minister’s resignation.

The BJP’s reaction came hours after the Calcutta High Court declared as null and void the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test 2016 in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools and ordered the cancellation of all appointments made through it.

”The Calcutta High Court’s judgement on the SSC (School Service Commission) recruitment scam in West Bengal is massive. Approx 25,735 jobs of Group C, Group D, Secondary and Senior Secondary have been declared null and void,” BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya said in a post on ‘X’.

”It bares open the brazen corruption of Mamata Banerjee’s government,” he said.

The BJP leader also alleged that it was ”undoubtedly” the biggest government-sponsored recruitment scam in which ”lives of millions of youth” were ruined.

”Over 51 crore rupees and gold were recovered from former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee’s house. He mentioned Mamata Banerjee as his primary contact in the jail documents,” he said.

”TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya, Jiban Krishna Saha, TMC Youth Wing leaders Kuntal Ghosh, Shantanu Bandyopadhyay and the life bird of Pisi-Bhaipo duo, Kalighat er Kaku aka Sujay Krishna Bhadra, have also been arrested,” Malviya added.

During a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party national spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam alleged that Banerjee was the kingpin of the alleged recruitment scam and demanded that she tender her resignation as chief minister.

”The high court’s judgment has completely exposed her. She should resign,” Islam told reporters.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi also directed the CBI to undertake further investigation into the appointment process of the State Level Selection Test 2016 and submit a report in three months.

The bench also directed the West Bengal School Service Commission to initiate a fresh appointment process.