“Deserving and tainted candidates can be separated and marked if there is a will,” Retired Calcutta High Court justice and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Tamluk constituency, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, said on April 3, 2025.
| Photo Credit: ANI
A day after the Supreme Court cancelled over 25,000 school jobs in West Bengal, Calcutta High Court judge-turned-BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay urged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to form a committee comprising the advocate general and lawyers to find out a mechanism so that a deserving teacher can return to service.
The panel, headed by the Education Minister, should have the School Service Commission chairman and may also have Mr. Gangopadhyay himself, the former judge said on Friday (April 4, 2025), adding that a review petition can be filed in the Supreme Court to prepare a list of all those who secured the job honestly.
The ruling TMC rejected his suggestion, saying there cannot be reconciliation or settlement of the issue after the apex court’s order.
The top court on Thursday (April 3, 2025) invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools and termed the entire selection process “vitiated and tainted”. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict dated April 22, 2024, annulling the appointments.
“Rising above politics, my humble plea to Didi (Banerjee) is to take initiative to constitute such a committee. So far as my knowledge and experience goes, it is possible to differentiate between those who secured the job through fraudulent means and those who got it by their merit and hard work,” Mr. Gangopadhyay told reporters on Parliament premises.
Suggesting that a review petition be filed at the apex court for preparing a list of deserving candidates, he said, “We will urge the Supreme Court: Your honour, please note these people have not committed any impropriety. Please note these people don’t have any relation with the tainted ones. I think this can be possible even now.”
The Tamluk MP named eminent lawyer and CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, along with some other leading lawyers who had represented petitioners in the case in both the High Court and the Supreme Court, who could be on the panel. “If my name is considered, I can also be part of the committee,” he said.
Mr. Gangopadhyay said on Thursday (April 3, 2025) that deserving and tainted candidates can be separated and marked if there is will.
Rejecting Mr. Gangopadhyay’s suggestion, senior TMC MP and eminent lawyer Kalyan Bandyopadhyay said, “After the Supreme Court’s order, there cannot be further re-conciliation or settlement of the issue. The only option left is to act as directed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.”
Mr. Bandyopadhyay said that the BJP MP is demanding the CM’s resignation one day and urging her to form a committee after 24 hours.
“He is making such comments for political interest,” the TMC lawmaker claimed.
Mr. Gangopadhyay on Thursday (April 3, 2025) blamed the Chief Minister for the situation, alleging that her administration’s ineptitude worsened the crisis and victimised deserving candidates.
Veteran TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said, “Mr. Gangopadhyay had joined the BJP to suit his political ambition. He has been criticising CM Mamata Banerjee for quite some time. His comments have no significance.”
Published – April 05, 2025 11:27 am IST
