In a major blow to the West Bengal Government and the School Service Commission (SSC), the Calcutta High Court on Monday said that candidates identified as “ineligible” will not be able to appear for the new SSC recruitment exam in 2025.

Justice Saugata Bhattacharya of the Calcutta High Court directed the SSC and state government to exclude any of the identified ineligible candidates from appearing for the examination even if they have applied. Justice Bhattacharya also ordered that the recruitment process should be completed by December 31, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s guidelines.

Justice Bhattacharya directed that if any identified ineligible candidate has already applied, the application should be rejected. The High Court clearly stated that the recruitment process should be completed in accordance with the Supreme Court’s order.

SSC 2025 notification allegedly against Supreme Court’s order

After cancelling 26,000 jobs, the West Bengal government has issued a new recruitment notification as per the Supreme Court’s order. The process of applying for that recruitment exam has already started. But allegations were made that the SSC 2025 notification was against the Supreme Court’s order. A case was filed in the Calcutta High Court challenging the notification.

The petitioners have alleged that the notification for about 44,000 vacancies that has been published is not legal. They stated that as per the Supreme Court’s order, the ‘selection’ process for 2016 must be done as per the ‘rules’ of that year. But in this case, it was not followed. They also claim that the age relaxation issue was not done as per the order.

State govt accused of giving opportunity to ineligible SSC candidates

Several cases have been filed in the Calcutta High Court alleging that the state government is giving opportunities to the ineligible in the recruitment process. It has been alleged that the new recruitment rules do not differentiate between the eligible and the ineligible.

However, SSC lawyer Kalyan Banerjee and Advocate General Kishore Dutta argued that the Supreme Court did not specifically state anywhere that identified ineligible candidates would not be able to participate in the new recruitment process.

The new SSC notification states that 10 marks will be given to candidates based on their previous teaching experience. The state government and the SSC also argued in the Calcutta High Court today that the Supreme Court did not issue any order regarding whether ineligible candidates should be given these 10 marks.

The SSC and the state further argued that as per the Supreme Court’s order, ineligible job seekers have lost their jobs and had to return their salaries. Now, if they are not allowed to take up their jobs again, they will be punished twice for the same offence.

State and SSC’s explanation unexpected: Judge

Justice Saugata Bhattacharya said that this explanation from the state government was not expected. Even though the state government and SSC sought a stay on this order, the judge dismissed their application. The petitioner’s lawyer Firdous Shamim said that today it was proven in court that the state government is extending support to the ineligible candidates.