Mamta government shocks, High Court banned the help of dismissed school employees

The Calcutta High Court has asked the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee not to provide financial assistance to the non-teaching school staff dismissed following the order of the apex court. The Calcutta High Court rejected the guidelines to provide allowances to the Group-C and Group-D employees fired after the petition of the candidates included in the 2016 recruitment waiting list. While interim prohibiting the decision of the Bengal government to provide assistance, Justice Amrita Sinha said that the state government cannot give allowances to Group-C and Group D employees. This ban will remain in force till 26 September. 

The petitioners argued that despite the Supreme Court’s decision, providing Rs 25,000 and Rs 20,000 allowance to those dismissed due to irregularities is equivalent to rewarding corruption. Many people are considering this decision of the court as a setback for Mamta Banerjee -led government. However, some people believe that this order has temporarily relieved the financial burden of several crore rupees. The intervention of the court has not only stopped allowances, but all the cases related to the sacked employees have come under the purview of judicial inquiry. This can give the state government a chance to present its attitude as a conflict between good intentions and legal obstacles – a story that it can use to be possible before the next year’s assembly elections.

The issue arises from the order of the Supreme Court, which was canceled the appointments of about 26,000 candidates of the 2016 SSC panel, including Group-C and Group-D employees. The order came after an investigation, which revealed the alleged cash-to-the-day scam. In May, the state government announced a monthly assistance of ₹ 25,000 for Group-C employees who were out of job and ₹ 20,000 for Group-D employees.