The Supreme Court verdict on the Bengal recruitment scam spurred a delegation of teachers to fetch up at Rahul Gandhi's residence at New Delhi's Tughlaq Lane on April 5.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha interacted with five representatives of the aggrieved teachers, who are slated to meet chief minister Mamata Banerjee on April 7 at Kolkata's Netaji Indoor Stadium.

“Having heard that I was in Delhi some of the teachers called me with a request to meet Rahul Gandhi. He met them for about 35 minutes and heard their problems,” Shubhankar Sarkar, the West Bengal Congress president told The Telegraph Online.

“Rahul Gandhi wanted to know what he could do for the teachers who have lost their jobs. They said the Supreme Court has given its verdict. They wanted to know if they could appeal to the highest office in the country.”

Hanjala Sheikh, Sangeeta Saha, Mohammad Golam Ghaus Mandal, Tanmay Ghosh and Humayun Feroz Mandal urged Rahul Gandhi to help them raise the issue in front of the entire country, in the Parliament and if possible, arrange a meeting with the President of India.Rahul is already vocal about unemployment, question paper leaks, entrance exams, and corruption in recruitment reportedly told them that since the court session is now over, there was no time to do anything inside the Parliament. However, he and the Congress would try as much as possible to stand by the deserving teachers. Since the matter was related to the court, there was no room for protests on the streets.

The Congress leader has assured that the party will provide all the necessary help, including legal assistance. He also advised the teachers not to panic and expressed surprise at how so many people's jobs can be lost at the same time.

After the meeting with the teachers, Rahul also had a word with senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

On the instructions of Rahul, the teachers have sent a written submission to his office with the details of the case.

A backdrop

The Supreme Court last week cancelled the jobs of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff, a section of whom had secured jobs by allegedly paying cash to Trinamool leaders.

According to sources, Rahul has already started investigating the recruitment corruption in West Bengal and the cases related to it. According to Anandabazar Online, he also requested documents.

"They said they saw the advertisement for SSC, applied for the jobs, appeared for the test and qualified. How could they know if there was any irregularity in the selection process? How could they know some candidates had to pay bribes to secure their seats?" said Sarkar. "The leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who was then a minister in the Trinamool government is as much responsible as Mamata Banerjee."

"The only goal now should be to restore their jobs," Sarkar added. "For this, we have to put politics aside and find a way together if necessary."Further pressing on the issue, Sarkar said that neither unemployed teachers nor the CBI have been able to "identify the culprits". "As a result, everyone has lost their jobs. Even if innocent people are now given the opportunity to sit for the job exam again, it will not be easy to succeed again. The unemployed are seeking legal advice to reconsider the Supreme Court's verdict. There has been a complete injustice to the deserving candidates. We will stand by them," added Sarkar.

After the meeting with Rahul, Hanjela Sheikh said, "I have requested him to bring to the attention of the people of the country the injustice that has been done to us, the loss of seven years of service despite being innocent. He has investigated the entire matter. He has assured that he will help in every way possible. As per the court verdict, we have lost our jobs. However, we have not received any official letter of dismissal," reports Anandabazar Online.

On being asked whether they will attend the Netaji Indoor meeting called by Mamata Banerjee or not, Hanjela said, "There are about 12,000 teachers under the umbrella of the qualified teachers' rights platform. Our committee will decide on this matter."

Thousands of teachers in West Bengal are grappling with an uncertain future after the Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped their appointments, citing large-scale fraud in the recruitment process conducted by the state's School Service Commission (SSC).

The mass termination has sparked outrage among those who claim they were recruited on merit and are now paying the price for systemic corruption.