Group C and D education staff protest outside SSC office, demand publication of eligibility list

KOLKATA: The 'eligible' Group C and Group D education department staff members on Wednesday began a sit-in demonstration outside the SSC headquarters in Salt Lake, demanding immediate publication of the certificate list for eligible employees.The candidates under the banner of 'Odhikar Mancha', held a protest march from Karunamoyee to the office and began the demonstration, seeking a meeting with the SSC chairperson to press for their demands."We want the SSC to immediately publish the certificate list of 3,394 candidates who have already been declared qualified. There are 1,255 eligible Group C and 2,139 eligible Group D employees," a protester said.They were also part of the 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff of state-sponsored and -aided schools who lost their jobs after the Supreme Court found large-scale irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process and scrapped the entire panel on April 3.Those who were rendered jobless claimed that the reason behind their plight was the inability of the School Service Commission (SSC), which appointed them, to differentiate between the candidates who secured employment through fraudulent means and those who did not.

"We want immediate reinstatement for those who are not linked to any corruption. They must publish the list and submit it to the Supreme Court. The SSC chairman must give us this in writing. All the 3,394 eligible Group C and D education workers must be reinstated to their respective schools following proper legal procedure," another protester said.

The protesters also demanded uploading of all scanned OMR sheets seized by the CBI on the official SSC website."This would definitely ensure transparency and help in restoring public confidence in the recruitment processes," one of the protesters said.