Mamata Banerjee on Monday lobbed the ball into the Supreme Court over the cancellation of 25,753 jobs of teaching and non-teaching staff in state-run and state-aided schools.

“We told the CBI to find out which candidates are qualified and who are not. If they could provide the list the government, the School Service Commission will accept it… We provided jobs. Our government provided jobs. Mistakes may happen. They did not give time to the administration to rectify the mistakes,” Mamata said addressing teaching and non-teaching staff who lost their jobs last week.

Mamata today instructed the teachers to resume their work at the schools where they were appointed.

“The government has not sent you termination letters. You can continue to teach the students,” Mamata said.

She said the government will seek a clarification from the apex court on the status of the teaching and non-teaching staff removed from their posts by the verdict.

“We will seek a clarification from the SC. Those who are working now we shall ask the court what will they do. The apex court has asked for fresh appointments. But, those who were teaching, what is their clarification who will run the schools, who will do the work? Those who can’t give jobs should not take away job,” Mamata said. "Nobody can stop you from doing voluntary service."

Mamata said she would deal with the issues of the qualified teachers. "The others I will see later, whether there is any evidence against them," Mamata said.

A Supreme Court division bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar last week upheld a 2024 verdict of the Calcutta high court that quashed the appointment of 25,753 candidates who gained employment through the school service commission, and called the process “vitiated.”

“While we are bound by the ruling of the Supreme Court we are taking pro-active steps to ensure that the situation is handled with the utmost care and fairness. We will explore all possible legal avenues including seeking modifications of the judgement and other relief to provide justice to those who have been affected,” said Mamata.

The Supreme Court had instructed the Mamata Banerjee government to call for fresh tests to fill up the vacancies. These teaching and non-teaching staff had appeared for the SLST exams which were announced in 2016.

Mamata also had a question for the CPM, whose only Rajya Sabha MP from Bengal had fought the case for candidates who were deprived from jobs following allegations of cash-for-jobs.

Several Trinamool leaders and officials of the school service commission and board officials including former education minister Partha Chatterjee were arrested.

“Why did you apply this is my first question. Whether Bikash Bhattacharya will be isolated or not politically. CPM has to answer. Why is he cancelling all these lists?” asked Mamata.

Mamata assured the government will take all steps to ensure there is no job loss to the members of the deprived teachers association and other organisations that have been floated

“We have plans A, B, C, D, E ready. If they have not been able to prove corruption against you then there is nothing to stop from teaching. As per the SC’s directive in two months the process will be completed. There will be no service break. If you suffer for two months now, you won’t have to suffer for 20 years,” she said.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the state government did not provide the list of tainted and non-tainted candidates to the Calcutta high court and Supreme Court.

“The state government has to give the list to the Supreme Court. The chief minister took away the autonomy of the school service commission,” said Adhikari.

His advice to the teaching and non-teaching staff was to submit review petition before the SC, irrespective of the government’s action.

“They do not have to worry about the lawyers’ fees. The BJP MLAs will raise money for their legal battle,” he said.