n a significant development in the ongoing fallout from the 2016 school recruitment scam, the Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to debar all “tainted” candidates identified in the previous selection process from participating in the 2025 recruitment drive. The directive comes in light of the Supreme Court’s earlier order scrapping the entire 2016 panel due to large-scale corruption.
Justice Sougata Bhattacharya, hearing a batch of petitions challenging the 2025 recruitment guidelines, ruled that any application already submitted by such disqualified individuals should be deemed cancelled. The court reiterated that the ongoing selection process must be completed within the deadline set by the apex court — December 31, 2025.
The WBSSC had issued fresh recruitment notifications starting May 30, with the application deadline set for July 15. According to the state education department, over 3.5 lakh applications have already been received for teaching posts alone. These appointments will fill vacancies created by the annulment of 25,753 jobs — including teachers for Classes IX–XII and Group C and D staff — by the Supreme Court on April 3 this year.
The Supreme Court had found the 2016 State Level Selection Test (SLST) to be “vitiated beyond redemption” and allowed only those teachers who were untainted to continue teaching temporarily, subject to fresh selection. However, it did not categorically ban the participation of tainted candidates in future processes, leading to legal ambiguity and challenges.
The latest petitions before the Calcutta High Court raised objections to recruitment guidelines that allowed disqualified candidates to reapply and awarded them up to 10 bonus marks for prior experience — a move the petitioners said violated the Supreme Court’s intent. They argued that giving such candidates a second chance amounted to rewarding corruption.
Senior advocate and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, appearing for the WBSSC, contended that the Supreme Court had not explicitly prohibited the 2016 disqualified candidates from reapplying. He further argued that denying them the opportunity now would amount to “punishing them twice” for the same offence.
Petitioners’ counsel Firdaus Shamim welcomed the high court’s ruling, stating, “It is clear that both the state government and the SSC are still standing by tainted candidates who used unfair means. The court has rightly rejected their arguments.”
Responding to criticism, TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar said, “The state government has always tried to safeguard the interests of those who lost their jobs in this unfortunate episode. It will continue to follow the Supreme Court’s directions and explore legal avenues for relief where possible.”
