Sacked Group C and D education staff protest outside SSC office in Kolkata, demanding certificate list publication and reinstatement after 2016 scam fallout.
Chanting slogans and holding placards, a large number of Group C and D education department employees, recently sacked from their positions, staged a sit-in protest outside the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) headquarters in Salt Lake on Wednesday. Braving the heat and uncertainty, these non-teaching staff members—lab assistants, clerks, and support personnel—demanded justice and the immediate publication of the certificate list that proves their eligibility.
The protest, organized under the banner of ‘Odhikar Mancha’, began with a march from Karunamoyee to the SSC office. Once there, demonstrators insisted on a meeting with SSC Chairperson Siddhartha Majumdar to press for their demands. Despite attempts by the media to contact Majumdar, he remained unavailable for comment.
“We are not here to beg, we are here to demand what is rightfully ours,” said Amit Mandal, one of the Group C staffers who lost his job following a Supreme Court verdict. “We want the immediate release of the eligibility certificate for the 3,394 of us who were recruited fairly.”
Aftermath of 2016 Scam Fallout
The protestors are among the 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff who lost their jobs after the Supreme Court scrapped the entire 2016 recruitment panel in April this year. The decision followed revelations of large-scale corruption and irregularities in the hiring process.
However, the protestors argue that the SSC failed to distinguish between fraudulent appointees and those who cleared the recruitment process through fair means. “We had no role in the scam. We were selected on merit. The Calcutta High Court has already recognized our eligibility in multiple orders,” said Moumita Biswas, a former Group D employee.
Moumita, who traveled from Hridaypur in North 24 Parganas to attend the protest, said her life has turned upside down since the termination. “I haven’t received any allowance from the government, and I’m surviving only on borrowed money from friends and relatives. I don’t know how long I can live like this,” she said, her voice trembling.
Demand for Transparency and Legal Acknowledgement
At the heart of their demand is the urgent publication of an eligibility certificate list, which the protesters say would formally recognize the 3,394 Group C and D staffers as legally appointed. According to union members, this certification is essential for presenting their case to the courts and pushing for reinstatement.
“We are not asking for a favor. We are asking the SSC to follow legal procedure and publish the list of qualified candidates. Once that is done, the state government must reinstate us,” said a representative from the Deserving Non-Teaching Employees Forum. “We will not appear for any fresh selection tests. We have already proven ourselves once.”
The protesters also demanded that the SSC upload the scanned OMR sheets seized by the CBI onto its official website. They believe this step will restore public faith in the system and prove that many among them had genuinely cleared the recruitment tests.
Uncertainty Over Allowances and Fresh Exams
Adding to the tension is the confusion surrounding the allowances announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Following the Supreme Court ruling, she had declared a monthly allowance of ₹25,000 for Group C and ₹20,000 for Group D terminated employees. However, many like Moumita claim they haven’t received any payment so far.
To complicate matters further, the Calcutta High Court recently imposed an interim stay on the state’s decision to provide these allowances. The state government has challenged this stay before a division bench of the court.
Meanwhile, there are indications that the government may soon issue a fresh notification to rehire the sacked non-teaching employees through a new selection test—an idea firmly opposed by the protesters.
“We were already selected fairly once. Why should we undergo another round of tests just to prove the same thing?” asked Amit Mandal. “The court must hear our voice. We are not criminals. We are victims of a broken system.”
As the day wore on, a delegation of the demonstrators met with SSC Chairperson Majumdar to submit their demands in writing. The mood outside the SSC office remained tense, filled with both frustration and quiet determination.
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