Breather for some. Uncertainty for many. Lingering doubts for all.
Even after Thursday’s Supreme Court clarification, questions swirled among the school employees robbed of their jobs.
The secondary education board had pleaded in court that all the teaching and non-teaching employees “not specifically tainted”, out of the sacked 25,753, be allowed to continue. But the court has granted the relief to only the teachers among them.
The question remains whether the school education department or the school service commission (SSC) will come up with a list identifying who can take classes.
While declining to let the untainted non-teaching staff continue, the court said the number of staff “found to be specifically tainted” was “substantially high”.
When education minister Bratya Basu was asked whether the state government would now take steps to ask the tainted teaching and non-teaching staff to return their salaries, he said: “Until we study Thursday’s judgment, we cannot say anything definite.”
The Supreme Court said in its order that the fresh recruitment process has to be completed by December 31. The state education department, the board and the SSC have been asked to file an affidavit by May 31, enclosing a copy of the advertisement for the fresh exercise. Asked about the recruitment drive, Basu said: “I won’t comment on what the Supreme Court has said.”
The teachers have voiced their opposition to taking a fresh test. When Basu was asked if he would speak to the teachers to convince them about it, he said: “I have not heard anything from the candidates on this. If required, we can meet the teachers. The room for dialogue is always open.”
Non-teaching staff protesting at the Y-channel said they would not write a fresh test. It is not clear whether the state government would speak to the sacked Group C and D employees to convince them about it.
“The SSC will make its decision known,” said Basu.