The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of its order that upheld the termination of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff, reported The Indian Express.

The state board asked the court to allow teachers “not found to be tainted” by the bribery allegations to continue their work until the end of the academic year or until fresh appointments are made, whichever is earlier.

On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court order that had declared as null and void the 2016 State Level Selection Test for recruitment in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools.

The High Court bench had passed its direction in April 2024 based on the findings of a re-evaluation of the Optical Mark Recognition sheets from the 2016 recruitment exam in the case.

The re-evaluation found that the selected teachers had been recruited against blank Optical Mark Recognition sheets.

Taking note of this, the Supreme Court had said: “Regarding findings of this case, entire selection process is vitiated by manipulation and fraud and credibility and legitimacy is denuded.”

On Monday, the state board told the Supreme Court that after its order, “services of 17,206 out of the 1,51,568 teachers, i.e 11.35% of the existing teachers, are to be terminated”.

This “would have a devastating impact across the schools in the state”, The Indian Express quoted the board as having stated.

“The teacher strength of 1,51,568 (excluding headmasters) in the state is already strained, with most schools relying on a single teacher per subject for Classes 5 to 10,” added the board.

The petition was filed on the same day West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she would do everything possible to restore the dignity of those who lost their jobs in the state.

“Please don’t consider that we have accepted it [the order],” the Trinamool Congress chief said during a meeting in Kolkata with some of the teachers affected by the order. “We are not stone-hearted, and I can even be jailed for saying this, but I don’t care.”

Banerjee, however, said that the state government respected the Supreme Court ruling and added that the administration was taking steps to handle the situation with “utmost care and fairness”.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday, Banerjee had assured support to the teachers and said that the state government will ensure that they would not remain without a job or have a break in service.

Alleging that Banerjee was “undermining judicial authority” with her statements, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Jyotormoy Singh Mahato on Monday wrote to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, urging action against the chief minister.

Mahato, the MP from West Bengal’s Purulia, said that a sitting chief minister questioning the Supreme Court “embodies a dangerous precedent of judicial anarchy”.