State education minister Bratya Basu on Thursday asked why there was “so much discussion” about the creation of supernumerary (additional) posts when the education department had not appointed anyone under the quota.
Basu told reporters at the Trinamool headquarters: “The supernumerary posts have become a public debate now. But did we appoint anyone through the supernumerary quota? The answer is no. We want to clearly say that only one job through the quota of supernumerary posts was given, under the direction of Justice Abhijit Ganguly (of Calcutta High Court), who is now a BJP leader.”
The minister said: “When Abhijit Ganguly asked for one job to be given under the supernumerary quota, he considered it valid. But now he is saying it is unethical and a ploy to shelter the corrupt.”
Soma Das, a cancer survivor, was recruited on humanitarian grounds through the quota following a prayer in the court of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
Das was spared when the division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md. Shabbar Rashidi on Monday cancelled the jobs of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching employees in government-aided schools on the ground that it could not ascertain who were recruited legally and who got their jobs through unfair means.
Referring to the supernumerary posts, the bench said: “It is shocking that, at the level of the cabinet of the State Government, a decision is taken to protect employment obtained fraudulently...."
The bench asked the CBI to probe the role of officials involved in the creation of the posts.
Basu said on Thursday: “The court is assuming that the supernumerary posts were created to protect those who were undeserving. Did the single bench or the division bench ever seek to know from the education department why the quota was created? They did not give us a chance to defend ourselves. Every accused is entitled to defend himself.”
