The recent court hearings in the West Bengal school teachers recruitment scam have been peppered with references to mythical, literary and historical characters.
On February 17, Justice Biswajit Basu of Calcutta High Court compared the West Bengal School Service Commission to poet Valmiki, hinting at the agency’s change of stance. The Commission had recently decided on terminating candidates who got jobs using unfair means.
Over the past few weeks, the appointment of 2,500 candidates was withdrawn by the Commission. Justice Basu said in court that mythology says that “Ratnakar can be Valmiki”. “If the School Service Commission changes itself... that is a good sign. Where is the difficulty?” the judge asked. The court’s observations came while hearing the case on irregularities in the recruitment of teachers for Class IX and X.
Only a few days ago, Justice Subrata Talukdar of the Calcutta High Court compared the West Bengal School Service Commission to Lady Macbeth. While the judge did not elaborate on the reference, many believe he was hinting at the situation of the Commission where it has to change and repent its earlier decisions.
In another instance, one of the advocates — appearing a job aspirant — said the School Service Commission was responsible for the entire mess that impacted others, just like Yudhisthira’s game of dice in the Mahabharata had affected many.
The remarks come at a time when candidates who allegedly got jobs using unfair means are being identified and terminated by the School Service Commission. On February 17, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested six agents who were part of the money collection network in the scam.
The courtroom references have not been limited to mythical and fictional characters. While challenging the bail prayer of former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee who was arrested in July 2022 for alleged involvement in the scam, counsel appearing for Enforcement Directorate took refuge in Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. “Vidyasagar had taken West Bengal 100 years ahead and Partha Chatterjee has taken it 100 years backwards,” they had argued.
The recruitment scam impacted State politics after Partha Chatterjee’s arrest and since then several key arrests and regular court proceedings have dominated the discourse in West Bengal. A section of job aspirants are still regularly organising protests demanding that they be appointed in the State-run schools as they missed out the opportunity due to the scam.
