Latest news with #AmritaSinha
Time of India
09-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
No contact for 15 yrs, mom seeks son's help
Kolkata: A 68-year-old woman, who had severed all ties with her only son 15 years ago, has moved Calcutta High Court praying that her son, a sailor, fund her medical costs and her old-age home stay. The son has expressed his unwillingness, arguing in the HC that his mother did not bring him up. He was raised by his paternal grandfather, and his mother did not even attend his wedding. The HC on Wednesday asked the woman's daughter-in-law to visit her in a Kalyani old-age home, check her health status, and then decide. The son, now sailing, was represented by his wife. The woman, partially paralysed and wheelchair-bound , lives in an old-age home without proper facilities. The NGO wants to shift her to a better but costlier facility. She told the HC that repeated calls to her son by the NGO had gone unanswered, forcing her to move court, seeking actions under Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata The Act allows courts to step in, asking children to pay maintenance to their senior citizen parents. The mother told the HC there was no one to take care of her and she requires maintenance. The son's counsel told the court that apart from the fact that she was the biological mother, he had no personal ties with her. After his parents separated, he was raised by his grandfather. After 2005, the mother allegedly refused to live with her son and the grandfather. She had no contact with the son until 2023-24. He sought his mother's medical records but Justice Amrita Sinha said, "Where is the difficulty in going and seeing how she is? She is suffering from partial paralysis waist down. You can go and see whether it's true or not."
Scroll.in
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Calcutta HC restraints Bengal from paying monthly stipend to sacked non-teaching staff
The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the West Bengal government to stop paying monthly stipends to a group of non-teaching staff who had been sacked after the Supreme Court in April found irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process, Live Law reported. On June 9, Justice Amrita Sinha had reserved the judgement in the matter but had stayed the state government's plan to provide monthly stipends of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 to the persons. In its Friday order, the court reinforced that restriction, prohibiting such payments till at least September 26. Sinha issued the direction on a writ petition challenging the provision of the allowance to the staff whose services had been terminated. The petition was filed by a candidate on the waitlist who was not recruited despite being on the merit list, allegedly due to irregularities in the hiring process. On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court's April 2024 order terminating the appointment of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff by West Bengal's School Service Commission. The bench passed the order after observing that the recruitment process was 'vitiated by manipulation and fraud'. The top court on April 17 permitted 'untainted' teachers to be retained until the end of the academic year or until fresh appointments are made, whichever was earlier. However, it did not grant relief to the non-teaching staff, or Group C and Group D employees, whose appointments were also cancelled. In response, the state government had announced in April that the sacked non-teaching staff would receive a monthly allowance until the Supreme Court delivered a verdict on its review petitions. On Friday, the High Court criticised the state for attempting to financially assist individuals whose employment had been declared fraudulent by the Supreme Court and directed 'tainted' candidates to 'refund any salary/payment received', Live Law reported. By introducing a stipend scheme, the state was undermining the Supreme Court's decision, the High Court observed. 'Once the highest court of the land has decided the issue of illegal appointment conclusively and opined that the appointments were result of fraud, no person who was the beneficiary of a fraudulent act of the statutory authority ought to be provided any support, that too, from the public exchequer,' the court said. The court also instructed the state government to submit its counter-affidavit addressing the petitioners' claims within four weeks, and allowed the petitioners two weeks after that to file their response, PTI reported. In April 2024, the High Court had passed its direction on the termination of the appointments based on the findings of a re-evaluation of the Optical Mark Recognition sheets from the 2016 recruitment examination in the case. The re-evaluation found that the selected teachers had been recruited against blank Optical Mark Recognition sheets.
Time of India
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
SSC Scam in West Bengal: Calcutta HC stays state govt's relief scheme for sacked non-teaching staff
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted an interim stay , restraining the West Bengal government from implementing a scheme to provide monetary assistance to non-teaching staff ( Group-C and Group-D ) who had lost their jobs following a Supreme Court judgment in April this year. The court has directed the state government to file an affidavit within four weeks and reply, if any, within a fortnight. The Single Judge Bench of Justice Amrita Sinha, who was hearing the case said, "As an interim measure, the State is restrained from giving any effect and/or further effect to the impugned Scheme till September 26, 2025 or until further order." Pointing out that the "conflicting stand of the State does not appear to be proper", the court observed that "If it is the specific stand of the State that the review application is pending, then the State ought to have taken leave of the Hon'ble Supreme Court to give effect to the impugned Scheme. On one hand the State proceeds to publish a new Scheme without obtaining leave of the Court where the matter is alleged to be pending, and on the other, when the said Scheme is challenged before the Court, the State opposes the same citing pendency of the review application. Such a conflicting stand of the State does not appear to be proper." The Group-C and D categories, along with the SSC teachers, had lost their jobs after the Supreme Court order on April 3, cancelling the appointments of 25,752 teaching and non-teaching staff in the cash-for-jobs scam last month. The West Bengal government had announced a stipend to Group-C and Group-D under the West Bengal Livelihood Social Security Interim Scheme, 2025 on a temporary basis, providing ₹25,000 and ₹20,000 for non-teaching staff Group-C and Group-D of the sacked employees respectively, to help their distressed families. They were recruited through the 2016 selection process conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission. Meanwhile, the High Court's order has sparked a political slugfest . Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, "West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stood by the employees and their families, who lost their jobs following the apex court order, and took a humanitarian step and decided to provide an interim relief. People can identify who went to court against such a humanitarian stand. Justice Amrita Sinha has given an interim stay today." Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari welcomed the court's decision, asserting that the Chief Minister cannot unilaterally disburse funds from relief accounts.
Hans India
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Calcutta High Court Blocks Bengal Government's Stipend Plan For Dismissed Staff
The Calcutta High Court has intervened to block the West Bengal government's attempt to provide monthly stipends to non-teaching staff who lost their positions following a Supreme Court ruling on recruitment irregularities. Justice Amrita Sinha delivered the order on Friday, effectively halting the state government's stipend payments that were designed to support Group C and D non-teaching employees affected by the April Supreme Court judgment. The controversy stems from a major recruitment fraud that occurred in 2016 through the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC). The Supreme Court had previously upheld the Calcutta High Court's decision to terminate the appointments of over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff members due to irregularities in the selection process. In April, a Supreme Court bench comprising former Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar characterized the recruitment process as fundamentally flawed and fraudulent. The court found evidence of systematic manipulation including OMR sheet tampering and rank falsification. Following the mass dismissals, the Mamata Banerjee-led state government announced a financial support package for affected non-teaching staff. The scheme proposed monthly stipends of Rs 25,000 for Group C employees and Rs 20,000 for Group D staff members. This compensation plan was the government's response to the widespread job losses resulting from the Supreme Court's strict enforcement of recruitment integrity standards. Multiple petitions were filed in the Calcutta High Court challenging both the government's stipend decision and the format of new recruitment processes being planned for teaching positions. The court reserved judgment on these matters the previous Monday before delivering Friday's ruling. The High Court's intervention reflects ongoing judicial scrutiny of how the state government handles the aftermath of the recruitment scandal. The Supreme Court's April decision was unambiguous in its condemnation of the 2016 recruitment process. The court described the appointments as fraudulent and equivalent to cheating, finding no grounds to overturn the High Court's original dismissal order. However, the Supreme Court did provide some relief by ruling that dismissed employees would not be required to return salaries they had already received during their employment period. The case highlights the broader implications of recruitment fraud in public sector employment. With over 25,000 positions affected across state-run and state-aided schools, the scandal has had significant consequences for both the education system and the individuals whose careers were disrupted. The High Court's latest ruling adds another layer of complexity to the state government's efforts to address the fallout from the recruitment irregularities while maintaining judicial oversight of remedial measures.
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Business Standard
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
TMC slams Oppn after HC stays relief scheme for sacked non-teaching staff
The TMC on Friday reiterated its respect for the judiciary but strongly criticised opposition parties for allegedly "denying humanitarian relief" to thousands of non-teaching staff who lost their jobs after the Supreme Court quashed the 2016 recruitment process, calling the move by the opposition parties inhumane. The remarks came immediately after the Calcutta High Court restrained the West Bengal government from implementing a scheme that sought to provide monetary support to sacked Group C and D staff until September 26 or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Justice Amrita Sinha passed the interim order on petitions challenging the state's proposal to pay Rs 25,000 to each affected Group C employee and Rs 20,000 to each Group D staff member. The court had reserved its verdict on June 9. The state government has been asked to file its affidavit in opposition within four weeks, and the petitioners have been given a further two weeks to respond. Responding to the court's order, TMC spokesperson and senior leader Kunal Ghosh alleged that certain political elements were "deriving monstrous glee" from the misfortune of those who lost their livelihoods. "Following the SC directive, over 26,000 people lost their jobs, bringing monstrous glee to some. It was our compassionate Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who stood by the affected," Ghosh said. He noted that while a review petition is currently underway in the Supreme Court, a new recruitment process has also been initiated in compliance with the apex court's judgment. "In SC's respect, a recruitment process was also initiated. Additionally, relief was arranged on humanitarian grounds by the CM for Group C and Group D employees who lost their livelihood. There was opposition to that, and Calcutta HC Justice Amrita Sinha issued a stay on that as well," Ghosh added. "We will follow a legal recourse, but we will also identify who moves courts and get these inhumane orders," he said, launching a veiled attack on opposition leaders who have publicly supported the legal challenges to the scheme. The West Bengal government had earlier launched the scheme to provide "limited livelihood, support and social security on humanitarian grounds" on a temporary basis, and made it subject to the orders of any competent court. The initiative came after nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff in government-aided and -sponsored schools were dismissed following a Supreme Court judgment that held the 2016 recruitment process conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission to be tainted. The ruling TMC had defended the relief package as a stop-gap measure to support distressed families until fresh appointments could be made.
