"Arrest Mamata Banerjee" urges BJP leader Agnimitra Paul after Calcutta HC's judgement on WB job recruitment

KOLKATA: BJP leader Agnimitra Paul demanded the arrest of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee following the Calcutta High Court's judgement that declared the entire panel of the 2016 Staff Selection Commission (SSC) recruitment null and void.

"We urge the honourable court and the CBI to arrest Mamata Banerjee and start an investigation because it's impossible that she wasn't aware of this," Paul said.

Agnimitra Paul criticized the state government for its perceived inaction.

"Has the state government just now woken up? After all these months of being told to look into the issue of corruption, where people in your government, your party leaders, and ministers received bribes to give out jobs--are they now realizing it? They were not concerned about it all this time. They even created supernumerary posts to protect those who got jobs through corruption so that they wouldn't lose it," Paul said.

For those who lost their jobs, Paul placed the responsibility on the shoulders of the Chief Minister, urging them to take action.

"But now, 26,000 jobs are gone, and the full responsibility lies with the Chief Minister. We say, those who lost their jobs, go to the TMC leader you bribed, surround his house, file a complaint with the police, and surround the TMC's Lok Sabha office," Paul said.

The Calcutta High Court on Monday declared all appointments null and void in the selection of candidates in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided secondary and higher secondary schools through a 2016 recruitment process.

The court has ordered the School Service Commission (SSC) to conduct fresh recruitments.

The court further ordered that those who were recruited illegally will have to return their salary within six weeks.

Paul also raised concerns about the alleged involvement of senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders in the corruption scandal, citing former state minister Partha Chatterjee's role in collecting bribe money.

"When Partha Chatterjee, one of Mamata Banerjee's ministers, wasn't in jail, he had agents from every district collecting bribe money from people wanting jobs, then bringing that money to Kolkata in police vehicles. Whose police? Who's the minister? Mamata Banerjee," Paul said.

Earlier on February 16, a team of the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids on close associates of Partha Chatterjee in Kolkata.

Chatterjee was arrested after Rs 21 crore in cash and jewellery worth above Rs 1 crore was recovered from the Kolkata residence of Arpita Mukherjee, an alleged close aide of the former education minister.

Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee, are facing a probe into the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam.

"If money from job sales is coming in police vehicles, and the Chief Minister isn't aware of it, that's hard to believe. The state Intelligence Bureau doesn't know. This isn't something that happened once or twice--it was continuous, over and over. So, Mamata Banerjee should be arrested and put under CBI investigation," Paul claimed, questioning the Chief Minister's lack of awareness regarding these activities.

All appointments by the SSC in the categories of teachers of classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 and group-C and D staffers through the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) where irregularities were found have also been declared null and void by the Calcutta High Court on Monday.

The Calcutta HC has also instructed the administration to take action on fresh appointments in the next 15 days.

Advocate Vikram Banerjee told ANI, "Particularly, the tender process was given to a blacklisted company, namely NYSA and that process is illegal. The number of illegal appointees can not be detected, in view of which the entire selection process has been cancelled. The beneficiaries of this illegal process must refund their salaries. The district collectors of all districts in West Bengal have been directed to start the recovery process within four weeks. A fresh selection process must be started. A fresh tender must be publicly advertised.

The West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) teacher recruitment scam came to light after the arrest of Bengal BJP leader Partha Chatterjee, a Trinamool Congress leader who served as the education minister in Mamata Banerjee's cabinet until his arrest on July 23, 2022.