Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], August 31 : Following the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) releasing a list of 1804 'tainted' candidates in the cash-for-jobs scam, BJP leader Rahul Sinha said that it remained to be seen whether there is any political game in this or not.
Speaking to ANI, Rahul Sinha said, "Calcutta High Court had already asked SSC to provide the list of ineligible people. For so many days, the SSC and the government said that they did not have a list. Today, on what basis did they declare 1084 people as ineligible? This should be disclosed. If they had a list of so many people, then why did they keep it hidden for so many days?"
"SSC should clarify why they were tortured for so long. Otherwise, legal action should be taken against them. Detain them because they are enemies of society. All the people of the government who are behind this should be detained too. I think the number of ineligible people can be three to four times this list. It remains to be seen whether there is any political game in this or not," he added.
The West Bengal School Service Commission released the list of names of 1804 ineligible candidates after the Supreme Court directed it to publish the list of 'tainted' candidates in the cash-for-jobs scam. The commission released the roll number, serial number and name of the ineligible candidates.
He further said that he would like to urge the court to direct to find out the names of those who were bribed by these tainted candidates.
"How did these tainted candidates get jobs? The court should direct the disclosure of the names of those officials who were bribed, and when these names emerge, then these names will go till the top officials of TMC, and action should be taken against all those officials accused," he added.
Earlier in July 14, SSC teachers who lost their jobs after the Calcutta High Court decision in 2024, launched a protest march 'Nabanno Abhiyan' in Howrah towards the Bengal Secretariat under the banner of 'Jogya Shikshak Shikshika Adhikar Mancha'.
They lost their jobs following a Supreme Court judgment which held that the whole appointment process was tainted. The teachers who lost their jobs staged several protest against the Mamata Banerjee's government demanding justice.
Around 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal lost their jobs because of alleged corruption in various examinations conducted by the state's School Service Commission.
The bench of the then Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, and Justice Sanjay Kumar found that the West Bengal SSC's selection process was based on large-scale manipulations and fraud, and ordered the TMC government to initiate a fresh selection process.