The Supreme Court’s order setting aside Calcutta High Court’s directive for a CBI probe into the creation of 6,861 supernumerary posts for teachers and non-teaching staff by the state cabinet has brought a sigh of relief for the TMC, while the verdict came as a setback for BJP leaders who had hoped to corner Mamata Banerjee with direct charges of corruption ahead of next year’s Assembly election.
A source in the BJP said if the Supreme Court had upheld the earlier Calcutta High Court ruling, it would have helped the party politically target Mamata Banerjee directly, as the cabinet that created the supernumerary posts was headed by her.
In the past few days, top BJP leaders, including state president Sukanta Majumdar and leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, had publicly claimed they were eagerly waiting for the April 8 ruling, expecting it would ensure Mamata Banerjee’s journey to jail.
Expectations in the saffron camp had risen over Tuesday’s Supreme Court hearing, especially after the apex court scrapped the recruitment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff, citing manipulation and cover-up. That decision posed a challenge for the ruling TMC ahead of the crucial 2026 elections.
“If there had been a CBI probe, Mamata would have faced fresh embarrassment in addition to the April 3 verdict dismissing thousands of jobs. It was significant, as a central agency probe against the cabinet would have helped us politically corner the chief minister directly over corruption charges. However, it is now up to the party leaders to highlight the scrapping of jobs of thousands of teachers and non-teaching staff as the main weapon against the state government,” said a BJP leader.
A division bench of Calcutta High Court, comprising Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi, last year directed the CBI to probe the cabinet decision. A source said the high court ruling also permitted the CBI to conduct “custodial interrogation” of those suspected of involvement in the decision, if necessary.
“After the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court’s ruling scrapping the recruitment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff, we expected that Tuesday’s hearing on the creation of supernumerary posts would follow the same line. However, the judiciary has the final word, and we must respect the decision,” he added.
Majumdar, who is also a Union minister of state, had told reporters on Monday that Mamata would be the second chief minister, after Haryana’s Om Prakash Chautala, to be grilled in a teachers’ recruitment scam.
Nandigram MLA Adhikari said: “Mamata and her cabinet ministers will certainly go to jail over the creation of supernumerary posts.”
Samik Bhattacharya, BJP Rajya Sabha member, however, believes the TMC has no reason to feel relieved following Tuesday’s Supreme Court order.
“The TMC cannot be relieved following this single court order, as the Supreme Court has already proven that the government is corrupt, leading to the dismissal of jobs for 25,753 educated youths. Their corruption has affected lakhs of educated youths who appeared for the examination. So, TMC must first answer to the youths they cheated,” said Bhattacharya.
CPM leaders also do not see the ruling as a relief for the TMC. Instead, they suspect in the “outcome” a tacit understanding between the BJP and TMC.
“Will the TMC welcome the April 3 verdict of the Supreme Court that scrapped the jobs of thousands of teachers? So, there’s no question of relief. The idea of a BJP-TMC understanding is not new, and the people of Bengal are aware of this equation,” said CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, however, said the Supreme Court ruling had proved that the narrative pushed by the BJP, CPM, and Congress was baseless.
“They started talking about a CBI probe as if the court had already granted permission. This verdict itself has humiliated the narrative of those political parties,” said Ghosh.
