Mamata Banerjee undermining judicial authority, claims BJP MP in letter to CJI

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Jyotormoy Singh Mahato on Monday wrote to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, urging action against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for allegedly undermining judicial authority.

Mahato objected to Banerjee’s statements about a Supreme Court order that upheld the termination of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staffers in the wake of bribery allegations. The staffers had been appointed by the West Bengal’s School Service Commission.

Mahato, the MP from West Bengal Purulia, said that Banerjee, instead of upholding the Supreme Court verdict, “chose to criticise the judiciary in a press conference held at the state secretariat, flanked by senior IAS officers”.

The BJP MP remarked that a sitting chief minister questioning the Supreme Court “embodies a dangerous precedent of judicial anarchy”.

Mahato urged the chief justice to “ensure that those who have disrupted the court under the protection of political power face appropriate consequences under the law”.

Earlier on Monday, Banerjee said she would do everything possible to restore the dignity of those who lost their jobs in the state, PTI reported.

“Please don’t consider that we have accepted it [the order],” the news agency quoted the Trinamool Congress chief as saying during a meeting in Kolkata with a section of teachers affected by the order. “We are not stone-hearted, and I can even be jailed for saying this, but I don’t care.”

Banerjee, however, said that the state government respected the Supreme Court ruling and added that the administration was taking steps to handle the situation with “utmost care and fairness”.

The chief minister added that she would stand by those who lost their jobs. “I don’t care what others think,” PTI quoted her as saying. “I will do everything to restore your dignity.”

The case

In April 2024, the Calcutta High Court declared as null and void the 2016 State Level Selection Test for recruitment in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools, ordering the cancellation of about 25,000 appointments made through it.

On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court order.

“Regarding findings of this case, entire selection process is vitiated by manipulation and fraud and credibility and legitimacy is denuded,” a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjiv Kumar as saying.

The Supreme Court added: “Tainted candidates must be terminated and appointments were resultant of cheating and thus fraud.”

On Thursday, Banerjee assured full support to the teachers and said that the state government would ensure that they would not remain without a job or have a break in service.

The chief minister also claimed that her name was being dragged into something she had “no inkling” about, PTI reported. She was referring to the alleged discrepancies in the appointments.

“I am ready to even go to jail if anyone wants to penalise me for standing with those who lost their jobs,” the news agency quoted her as saying.

During proceedings in the High Court, the petitioners in the matter had alleged that the jobs were given to candidates in return for money instead of candidates who had qualified in the recruitment process.

The High Court bench had passed its direction based on the findings of a re-evaluation of the Optical Mark Recognition sheets from the 2016 recruitment exam in the case. The re-evaluation found that the selected teachers had been recruited against blank Optical Mark Recognition sheets.

One hundred and twenty-six appeals were filed before the Supreme Court against the High Court order.

The state government had also moved the top court, contending that the appointments had been cancelled arbitrarily.

In May, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court order but allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation to continue its inquiry into the case. It directed the central agency not to take any coercive action, such as arresting suspects.

In its order on April 3, the Supreme Court directed that a fresh selection process for teaching and non-teaching should be completed within three months.

“The fresh selection process can also have relaxations for untainted candidates,” said the bench.

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