West Bengal: Protest by SSC teachers continues against CM Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 16 (ANI): Teachers continued their protest outside the Bikash Bhawan in Kolkata on Friday against the CM Mamata Banerjee-led state government after 26,000 teachers lost their jobs in connection with the SSC recruitment case.
Visuals showed the protesting teachers chanting slogans against the government and the SSC.
"We have been protesting since yesterday morning. We were protesting peacefully, but in between this, the police imposed a lathi charge on us... This is very wrong of them to do.... A lot of people have been left seriously injured. We will continue protesting..." said one of the protesting teachers.
On Wednesday night, several teachers were left injured after a clash erupted between the SSC protesting teachers and police after the police resorted to a lathi charge in order to disperse the crowd.
This follows a judgment by the Supreme Court, which held that the whole appointment process of the SSC was tainted.
On April 17, the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee reacted to the Supreme Court's verdict on the SSC recruitment and stated that the matter would be resolved in a year.
"The Supreme Court has allowed the teachers to continue till December 2025. We were worried how the salaries will be paid to them. Last time, it was said that salaries cannot be paid. We had assured them that they would not face any trouble. We have got time till December. Within this year, the matter will be resolved."
Supreme Court had allowed teachers whose appointments have been cancelled due to irregularities in the recruitment process to continue until the fresh selection process is completed.A bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna clarified that the aforesaid relief is only for teachers whose appointments were "untainted."
The top court also refused to grant relief to continue service to the teaching staff in Groups C and D, stating that there are more "tainted" candidates in those categories.
The top court also directed the West Bengal government and the WB Staff Selection Commission to issue advertisements for fresh recruitment of assistant teachers by May 31 and to complete the entire process by December 31.
The top court took its decision citing that the students undergoing studies should not suffer on account of the order passed by the court following the irregularities in the entire recruitment process in 2016. (ANI)