Protesting school teachers, who insist they are "eligible" in the scrapped-by-the-Supreme Court 2016 SSC recruitment panel, on Monday issued an ultimatum to the West Bengal government to release the certified list of "untainted" appointees from the tainted panel by the day's end.
The agitating teachers, who organised a march to the state secretariat 'Nabanna' and were intercepted by the police near Howrah Maidan, declared that they would continue to be on the streets and escalate their agitation if the government did not publish the list within the said time frame.
The declaration from the teachers came after a 20-member delegation held a meeting with senior officials of the state education department, which was attended by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant. The teachers informed that the two-hour meeting resulted in "no concrete assurances" from the government side.
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Protesters were scathingly critical of Pant for having given "not more than 10 minutes" to the meeting and have already set off for home, citing "other urgent appointments" in his schedule.
"The administration says it is sympathetic to the cause of candidates who got their appointments on merit. However, its steps till now indicate that it is more willing to help those who employed fraudulent means to get appointments. We have instructed them to first release the certified list of all the clean candidates by tonight. We are not leaving the streets until that is done," stated Chinmay Mondal, a protesting teacher.
"No concrete assurance was given by the government regarding publishing that list. It only assured that it will consider our demand. The government officials are now taking a new round of discussions among themselves. If it doesn't fulfil our demand, then the chief minister has to come here and explain to us why she could not do so," added another agitating teacher Mehboob Mondal.
Earlier during the day, a large group of "eligible and untainted" school teachers, whose appointments were revoked by the Supreme Court, clashed with the West Bengal Police when their rally was halted a few kilometres short of the secretariat.
The agitators, who were united under the platform of 'Sikshak Adhikar Manch' (Teachers' Rights Forum), rammed and pushed against a human barricade formed by the uniformed personnel, causing tension on the ground after protesters stood firm on reaching the secretariat and meeting the CM with their demands.
The protesters were eventually brought to a halt by the police with iron-wall barricades that were put up previously a bit further ahead near Mullick Fatak on the GT Road, with the law enforcers urging through public address systems not to use any kind of force or violence.
The agitators were observed exchanging words and constantly scuffling with the police trying to push past the barricades, with occasional outbursts.
The agitating teachers, claiming publication of OMR sheets of the 2016 School Service Commission exams, a complete roll of discredited and disreputable candidates, as well as an unconditional restoration of their jobs, among other things, demanded a meeting with the chief minister to receive an official response.
A huge contingent of lathi-charging police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) men, equipped with water cannons and over-the-head drone surveillance, were mobilised to halt the marching protesters.
Several iron-wall barriers, up to 10 feet high, were also put up at strategic locations leading up to the secretariat. The marching agitators also disobeyed the path which the police initially directed them to follow and persisted with GT Road in their bid to get to where they were headed.
"We will not sit for any examination. We have been wronged and it is the duty of the government to restore us with our wages in our original posts," another teacher protester stated.
The Supreme Court, in April, had cancelled the whole panel of 2016 SSC teaching and non-teaching posts on the grounds that massive corruption had made the selection process "tainted and vitiated" and irreparable, which resulted in the cancellation of almost 26,000 jobs.
Although the court directed a new selection process for the vacant seats, it instructed the state government and the SSC that qualified candidates will have to go through the process all over again, including giving fresh exams.
Both the SSC and the government declared their intentions to file review petitions in front of the apex court, but the stakeholders have also made unsuccessful appeals in the high court for permitting identified tainted candidates, who used undue means to get jobs, to take part in the new selection process as well.
"We are not scared because we are standing for truth. The chief minister has always stood by the scandal-ridden candidates. That's why she is avoiding to meet us and employing her police to prevent us from reaching her office," a protester added.
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