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Bengal Govt. Offers Financial Relief to Dismissed SSC Group C and D Employees
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday announced an ex gratia payment for Group C and Group D staff from the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) panel who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order earlier this month.
“You are not receiving salaries. We have several social security schemes. We have kept the education department out of this. After consultation with the chief secretary, state labour minister and lawyers, we have worked out a solution,” Banerjee said in a telephonic conversation with representatives of the protesting staff.
She further announced that Group C staff would receive ₹25,000 each, while Group D staff would be given ₹20,000 each as interim financial support. “We have decided to pay ₹25,000 to the Group-C staff and ₹20,000 to the Group-D staff. They have to tell me if they agree to it,” Banerjee stated.
The Chief Minister pointed out that a similar ex gratia payment had been made to Dunlop workers for years. “We have been making a similar ex gratia payment of ₹10,000 to the workers of Dunlop for many years,” she said, drawing a parallel to the present situation.
On 3 April, a division bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict that cancelled the appointments of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in state-run and state-aided schools. The court observed that the “entire selection process is vitiated” and cited “manipulation and fraud on a large scale, coupled with the intention to cover up” as reasons for the dismissal.
Two weeks later, the apex court allowed teachers for classes IX to XII to continue in service temporarily and directed the state government to complete a fresh recruitment process by 31 December. However, no relief was extended to the Group C and D employees. “We will only grant extension to the teachers and not to the Group-IV candidates,” said CJI Khanna. “We are not inclined to accept the prayer as far as Group C and D employees are concerned, as the number of established tainted candidates is substantially high in number.”
