Kolkata: Scuffle breaks out outside Netaji Indoor Stadium ahead of Mamata Banerjee's meeting with job losers

As per reports, the scuffle broke out between two groups of people over passes required to enter the venue.

Cops were mobilised to manage the situation.

"How long shall we wait to enter? People are allowed to enter in only one queue while five thousand others are waiting behind? What are the police doing? Are they going to hold the meeting or is it just an eye-wash?," says a woman waiting to enter the stadium.

In a massive judgement, the Supreme Court last week cancelled appointments of nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff by the School Service Commission (SSC) upholding the Calcutta High Court's order.

After the top court judgement, Mamata had said, "The association of deprived teachers sought my presence in their meeting. I will attend it. I will listen to them and appeal to them to remain patient." 

Kunal Ghosh, spokesperson of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), accused the Opposition- particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and CPI-M- of playing politics over the issue.

Mamata has already held CPI-M and BJP responsible for the annulment of the job.

The top court passed the order after the SSC failed to provide two separate lists of deserving and undeserving candidates after the government faced corruption allegations in the recruitment process.

A top court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said the selection process was "vitiated and tainted by fraud".

In April 2024, the Calcutta High Court had cancelled recruitment of nearly 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in government-sponsored and government-aided schools, dismissing the entire 2016 teacher recruitment panel.

The panel was constituted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

Erstwhile state education minister Partha Chatterjee, former primary education board president and Trinamool MLA Manik Bhattacharya, youth leader Kuntal Ghosh are among the people who were arrested so far in connection with the scam.

Former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Ganguly, who is now contesting the Lok Sabha elections on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket, had ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment process.