Kolkata: As the Mamata Banerjee government faced a major blow in the Supreme Court over the teachers' recruitment case, former Trinamool Congress MP Jawhar Sircar cited corruption and authoritarianism as the reasons for his exit from the party.

"People ask me why I resigned as MP of TMC. Would my conscience allow me to be a part of such rot? I went with TMC as it is the toughest fighter against communal, fascist BJP. I left because TMC's corruption and authoritarianism were getting too bad," he posted on X.

A retired IAS officer, Sircar has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati.

He joined the Trinamool Congress in 2021 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, but resigned in 2024 following the rape-murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

In an open letter to Banerjee, he had raised concerns about corruption within the party and claimed he was heckled by Trinamool leaders when he pointed to evidence against former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee.

Meanwhile, in a major set back for Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court's decision to cancel over 25,000 appointments of teachers and non-teaching staff under the West Bengal School Service Commission.

The court deemed the selection process “vitiated by manipulation and fraud,” stating its legitimacy had been "denuded."

A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar said it found no grounds to overturn the High Court’s order, asserting that the appointments were fraudulent as they stemmed from cheating.