Rahul Gandhi urges President Murmu to protect 'untainted' Bengal teachers after SC recruitment ruling

The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi wrote to President Droupadi Murmu, urging her to intervene to ensure that the "untainted" school teachers of West Bengal are not sacked following the Supreme Court recently striking down teachers' recruitment in the state by the Trinamool Congress government after allegation of malpractices.

The Congress leader, however, didn't specify how the President should intervene in the apex court order, which upheld the earlier Calcutta High Court order on cancelling the recruitment.

"Both judgements found that some candidates were untainted - selected through fair means, and some 'tainted' - selected through unfair means. Any crime committed during recruitment should be condemned, and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. However, treating teachers selected through fair means on par with tainted teachers is a serious injustice," Gandhi said in his letter.

"Most 'untainted' teachers have served for nearly a decade. Terminating them will force lakhs of students into classrooms without teachers. Their arbitrary termination will destroy their morale and motivation to serve, and deprive their families of what is often the sole source of income," he said.