The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the West Bengal government’s review petition against its April 3 verdict that had invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run and aided schools, terming the entire recruitment process “vitiated and tainted.”
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma refused to reopen the case, observing that all relevant aspects—factual and legal—had already been comprehensively examined.
“These review petitions, which, in effect, seek a re-hearing of the entire matter on merits, therefore, do not deserve to be entertained,” the bench said, while also rejecting the request to hear the case in open court.
The court reiterated that the April 3 judgment was delivered after exhaustive arguments and highlighted the West Bengal School Service Commission’s (SSC) failure to retain original OMR answer sheets or mirror copies. The concealment of lapses and irregularities by the authorities, the bench noted, made verification impossible and confirmed that the recruitment process had been compromised.
“The entire selection, therefore, had to be invalidated to maintain the sanctity of the process of selection, which should be pristine and free of all such infirmities,” the bench remarked.
While acknowledging that the decision would cause “heartburn and anguish” for some untainted candidates, the Court stressed that preserving the purity of the recruitment process must take precedence.
The bench reaffirmed its April order granting limited relief to certain employees not involved in irregularities—those who had earlier worked in other state departments or autonomous bodies. Although their appointments stood cancelled, they were allowed to apply to their previous workplaces within three months.
The controversy traces back to the 2016 recruitment drive conducted by the West Bengal SSC, where nearly 23 lakh candidates applied for 24,640 posts. However, irregularities such as tampering of OMR sheets and “rank-jumping” inflated the number of appointments to 25,753.
The Calcutta High Court, in April 2024, had annulled the appointments citing large-scale fraud and directed recovery of salaries from tainted candidates. The Supreme Court upheld this order earlier this year, and Tuesday’s ruling finally closed the door on review petitions filed by the state and others.
