Bengal govt appeals Calcutta HC's interim stay on stipends for job-losing non-teaching staff

Kolkata, July 29 (IANS) The West Bengal government on Tuesday approached the Calcutta High Court challenging the order of its single-judge bench placing an interim stay on its scheme to provide stipends for the non-teaching staff who have lost their jobs following a Supreme Court verdict in April.

On June 20, the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha had ordered an interim stay, which is supposed to be in force either till September 26 or till the time the court gives any further direction in the matter.

On Tuesday, the West Bengal government approached a division bench challenging the single-judge bench order. In the petition challenging the single-judge bench order, the state government contended that the allowance was announced to provide relief to the non-teaching staff who have lost jobs following the apex court order, and hence, it should not face hurdles on humanitarian grounds.

In May this year, the West Bengal government issued a notification announcing the new scheme under the state Labour Department. Under the "West Bengal Livelihood and Special Security Interim Scheme”, the job-losing Group-C staff would be entitled to a monthly stipend of Rs 25,000, while those in the Group D category would be entitled to Rs 20,000 monthly.

Announcing the launch of the scheme, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the scheme was planned under the state Labour Department because of the tendencies of some people and vested interests to file public interest litigations at the Calcutta High Court against any decision of the state government.

However, legal challenges could not be avoided following successive petitions filed against the said notification.

On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court order that annulled 25,753 school appointments made through the WBSSC, observing that the panel had to be scrapped entirely due to the authorities' failure to distinguish between "tainted" and "untainted" candidates.

The state government and the WBSSC have since filed review petitions in the Supreme Court seeking reconsideration of the order.

--IANS

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