Calcutta HC restrains WB govt from giving monetary support to 'jobless' Gr C, D school employees

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday restrained the West Bengal government from implementing a scheme till September 26 to provide monetary support to non-teaching staff who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court judgment that held the selection process tainted.

The court had on June 9 reserved judgment on the petitions, which opposed the payment of Rs 25,000 each to Group C and Rs 20,000 each to Group D employees, who lost their jobs on the apex court order, by the state.

In an interim order, Justice Amrita Sinha restrained the state government from giving any effect or further effect to the scheme for providing monetary relief to the non-teaching staff till September 26 or until further order, whichever is earlier. She directed the state government to file its affidavit in opposition to the contentions of the petitioners in four weeks and reply by the petitioners within a fortnight thereafter.

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The West Bengal government had introduced a scheme to provide "limited livelihood, support and social security on humanitarian ground" on temporary basis, subject to orders of any competent court, to distressed families of non-teaching staff in Group C and D categories, who were recruited through the 2016 selection process conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission.

Nearly, 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff of West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools lost their jobs on a Supreme Court judgement, which found the 2016 selection process tainted.