Decode Politics: Why Mamata Banerjee is on the back foot over a Calcutta HC order in school jobs scam

The Calcutta High Court’s decision last week to cancel the recruitment of almost 26,000 schoolteachers and non-teaching staff has set off a political firestorm in West Bengal amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, providing the Opposition BJP more ammunition with which to target the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

At a rally in Malda town on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took aim at the TMC and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying, “TMC played with the lives of the youths in Bengal. About 26,000 people lost their livelihoods due to the massive recruitment scam. Those, who took loans and gave them to the TMC (to get jobs), are on the roads now. It is the BJP government at the Centre that is providing jobs to the youth.”

Hitting back, Mamata said, “You have heard about maneater tigers, but have you heard about the job-eater BJP? Did you see the glee on the face of the leaders of the BJP, CPI(M) and Congress after so many people were rendered jobless by the court?”

In its April 22 order, a Division Bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi cancelled the appointments of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff and ordered them to “return all remunerations and benefits received … along with interest calculated at 12% per annum from the date of receipt thereof till deposit, within a period of four weeks from date”. The court also ordered the CBI to investigate further and submit a report within three months.

The scam came to the fore when a High Court Division Bench comprising Justices Harish Tandon and Rabindranath Samanta set up a committee headed by Justice (retired) Ranjit Bag on February 22, 2022 to look into alleged irregularities in the school job recruitment process. The committee submitted its report on May 12