Education minister Bratya Basu said on Tuesday that legal advisers prevented the school service commission from publishing a list identifying which terminated staff were “tainted”.

According to Basu, the Supreme Court’s orders of April 3 and 17 didn’t require such a list.

The government is currently determining how many teachers can return to classrooms until December 31, working with the commission on implementation.

Legal roadblocks

Though Basu initially suggested on April 11 that a segregated list might be available by April 21, he explained: “This couldn’t be done because legal counsel advised against it. The top lawyers, who even the sacked teachers wanted us to approach for the review petition, didn’t approve.”

He emphasised that the Supreme Court never mandated publishing such a list, and the April 11 meeting clearly indicated any list would require legal approval.

In the absence of the list that segregates the “tainted” and the others, the dismissed teachers have laid siege to the SSC office in Salt Lake.

Return to school

The Supreme Court’s April 17 ruling allows teachers “not specifically found to be tainted” to resume teaching until December 31. This clarification came after the secondary education board asserted that barring all 17,206 teachers would cripple Bengal’s education system.

However, without clear identification, many teachers have refused to return.

No counselling confusion

A delegation of teachers that met commission chairperson Siddhartha Majumdar on Monday evening said he told them only those who attended the first three rounds of counselling would feature on the list of candidates who could still draw their salaries.

Responding to this on Tuesday, Basu stated: “This is nothing but imagination. Neither we nor the SSC chairperson said anything about counselling rounds.”

Review petition

The state is preparing a review petition against the April 3 Supreme Court order that terminated 25,753 staff positions. “Don’t do anything that could jeopardise the review petition,” Basu urged protesters.

“We haven’t terminated anyone or stopped salaries. Have faith in the government,” he said.

A separate review petition for Group C and Group D non-teaching staff is forthcoming, as the apex court’s relief currently applies only to teachers.

“We will soon go for a review petition for the non-teaching staff. The chief minister has also said this,” the minister said.

Appeal for cooperation

Basu called for humane treatment of officials, noting protesters had confined SSC leadership and initially blocked food deliveries. “Let the SSC chairperson work on the contempt petition for Wednesday’s high court hearing. Remember that crucial Madhyamik results publication work is ongoing,” the minister said.