Mamata Announces Financial Assistance to Jobless Group C and D Employees

PTI, Kolkata, May 14, 2025 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday announced the payment of monthly allowances on a temporary basis to Group C and Group D employees whose appointments were terminated by the Supreme Court in the wake of the cash-for-jobs scam in state-run schools.

Banerjee announced Rs 25,000 and Rs 20,000 to the jobless Group C and Group D employees, respectively, under a newly launched West Bengal Livelihood and Social Security Scheme by the state labour department.

The scheme, which was approved by the state cabinet, will come into effect from April 1, 2025, the CM said.

“The families who have lost their jobs are in great difficulty. The matter is currently sub-judice. We will file a review petition before the Supreme Court on its previous verdict and await its order, with which we will surely abide. But until that order is received, the state government has decided to offer this relief to the suffering families,” Banerjee told reporters after the cabinet meeting at the state secretariat, Nabanna.

The apex court, in its April 3 order, axed the jobs of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in Bengal following the conclusion of hearings in the job scam case in secondary and higher secondary schools, where gross irregularities were unearthed in appointments made during the 2016 West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) selection process.

On April 17, the court modified its judgment in response to a petition from the state secondary education board, in which the WBSSC identified 15,304 teachers as “not specifically tainted” during the appointment process.

While the top court allowed the continuation of service for those teachers identified by the SSC until December 31, it gave no such reprieve to non-teaching employees under the Group C and D categories.

The state’s financial assistance to the affected employees will continue only until the government receives further orders from the court in light of the fresh petitions, Banerjee reiterated.

Besides the secondary education board, the SSC has also moved a clarification petition before the Supreme Court on its order to scrap the entire 2016 SSC appointment panel, officials said.