A section of ‘tainted’ teachers approached the Calcutta High Court after the School Service Commission (SSC) published a list of ineligible candidates. These teachers requested to be reinstated and to be allowed to sit for the upcoming SSC exam which will be conducted in September.

The Calcutta High Court dismissed the petition to reinstate the teachers on Tuesday and stated, “The case is pending in the Supreme Court. Therefore, HC will not interfere.” Justice Saugata Bhattacharya also reacted to the petition to sit for the exam again. He said, “There is a limit to everything.”

The court further said, “At the moment, it is not possible to examine the documents of 1804 people.” After that, the judge asked whether the ineligible teachers were going to school or not, to which Lawyer Anindya Lahiri replied, they are not. Replying to this, the judge commented, “Then why didn’t you come to the court earlier? Why did you come at the last minute? Now you want to sit for the exam? There needs to be a limit to everything.”

The lawyer for the ‘ineligible’ candidates argued, “This is the first time the list of ineligibles has been published. It hasn’t happened before.” The judge asked, “They were banned from going to school. It was the Supreme Court’s order. Why didn’t you take action then?”

West Bengal School Service Commission releases list of ‘tainted’ candidates

The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) on Saturday, August 30 released a list of ‘tainted’ candidates who paid bribes to secure jobs in government-run schools in 2016. The list reportedly has 1,804 names. The list, uploaded on the Commission’s website, only includes names and roll numbers of the tainted candidates. According to WBSSC officials, these people would not be allowed to appear for the examinations scheduled on September 7 and September 14.

This came two days after a bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma of Supreme Court directed the state government to publish the list of tainted candidates on August 28.

“In compliance with the order of the Supreme Court, a list of candidates whose selection was set aside by the Calcutta high court and confirmed by the Supreme Court was published on Saturday in the commission’s website,” said a senior official of WBSSC.

In a notification, the WBSSC said, “In compliance with the order of the Hon’ble supreme court of India dated 28.08.2025 in the matter of slp(c) no.23784/2025 (Bejoy Biswas & ors. vs. State of West Bengal & ors.), the list of candidates as mentioned in the list 1 is attached below, who were selected, whose selection has been set aside by the High Court and confirmed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, is hereby published in the official website of the West Bengal central school service commission in order to place the list of such tainted candidates in public domain.”

Another list of 1,140 candidates for Classes 9-10 and 1,020 candidates for classes 11-12, who are on the tainted list, will also not be able to appear for the new recruitment exams.

SSC scam

The West Bengal SSC scam refers to a massive recruitment scam in the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) that involved widespread irregularities in the selection process for teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run schools. Here’s a breakdown of the scam.

The scam involved manipulating the recruitment process through tampered Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets, fake merit lists, and appointments based on bribes. Candidates allegedly paid between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh to secure positions.

Prominent figures implicated in the scam include former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, Trinamool Congress MLAs Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha, and other SSC officials.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are probing the scam, which has led to the arrest of several accused individuals and the recovery of large amounts of unaccounted cash. Around a dozen TMC leaders, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, figure among those arrested so far.

The scam has resulted in the cancellation of approximately 25,753 appointments, with many teachers losing their jobs. The Supreme Court has directed the state to initiate a fresh recruitment process within three months.

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