Kolkata: School job aspirants protest at 'Bikash Bhavan'; demands quick appointment

KOLKATA: Hundreds of school job aspirants on Friday demonstrated before the West Bengal education department headquarters 'Bikash Bhavan' here, demanding appointment quickly since they did not get it due to legal wrangle despite cracking a recruitment examination in 2016.

Over 23 lakh candidates had appeared for the State Level Selection Test (SLST) in that year for over 25,000 vacant posts. While 25,753 appointment letters had been issued, the Calcutta High Court in April last year invalidated their appointment. The Supreme Court later stayed the order and said it would hear the matter.

"Most of the 25,753 candidates had qualified in the SLST 2016 exams. However, they are faced with an uncertain future due to legal issues. Days and months have passed. How long will we wait? We want the uncertainty to end and join work," Ujjwal Samanta, one of the protesters told reporters.

A small fraction of the 25,000-odd candidates were accused of taking unfair means in the exam, but all have been facing an uncertain future, said another candidate Meenakshi Dhara.

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The protestors, who marched towards Bikash Bhavan from Karunamoyee crossing in Salt Lake, were stopped by the police before the building. Six of their representatives were allowed to go inside to meet senior school education department officials. One of the protestors also tonsured his head in public. A senior school education department official said the case will come up again before the Supreme Court this month.

"We cannot act as the matter is sub-judice, We will go by the advice and directive of the judiciary," the official said. Another group of candidates held protests in Esplanade area in the heart of Kolkata, affecting vehicular traffic for some time.