Kolkata/IBNS: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called the Calcutta High Court order cancelling 24,000 recruitments of teaching and non-teaching staff "illegal".

Addressing an election rally in Raiganj, Mamata said, "I am not challenging the judge but I am challenging the verdict. 26,000 (24,000) people means 1.5 families. Can anyone return the salary of all these years in just four weeks!"

Mamata announced her government will move the higher court challenging the verdict.

"This order is illegal. I am not against the judge. We are moving the higher court. The teachers have nothing to worry about. Even if no one is there, I am always there for people who are in trouble," she added.

The Chief Minister also dared the court to put her behind the bars for speaking against the verdict.

"The court gives bail if BJP passes a PIL and jail for others. This is not the fault of the judges but the central government. They appoint such people in West Bengal purposefully.

"I am ready for any defamation case or even going to jail. I will accept punishment for the sake of people," she said.

The Calcutta High Court on Monday cancelled recruitment of 24,000 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).

A division bench comprising Justices Debangshu Basak and Md. Shabbar Rashidi said during the hearing that teachers who were illegally recruited will have to return their salaries within four weeks.

The bench has also ordered a reevaluation of 23 lakh OMR sheets which were filled during the recruitment process.

The court has asked WBSSC to start a new recruitment process.

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 have been 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.