HC div bench upholds fresh recruitment bar on ‘tainted’ candidates
Times of India | 11 July 2025
Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Thursday upheld a single bench order barring 2016 candidates deemed "tainted" from School Service Commission's fresh recruitment process to fill 35,726 vacancies.
Both the state and SSC moved the division bench of justices Soumen Sen and Smita Das De against the judgment of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya.
Justice Bhattacharyya had refused to allow the tainted candidates to participate, referring to Supreme Court's observation stating that their appointments were the "result of fraud which amounts to cheating". The apex court directed that the fresh recruitment process be completed by Dec 31. An age relaxation was given to untainted candidates and those with disabilities.
After a two-day hearing of SSC and the state's arguments on why the bar should be lifted, the petitions were turned down by the division bench.
During the hearing, Justice Sen questioned the commission on why it was seeking permission for the tainted candidates to take part in the recruitment process when SC had scrapped the entire 2016 panel.
The division bench upheld the single judge's order reflecting SC's directions and stated that the process needed to be completed within the Dec 31 time frame specified by the apex court.
Kalyan Banerjee, representing SSC, maintained his position that not allowing the candidates to take the exam would be double punishment. Before the single bench, he had argued: "My stand is it's open to all: tainted, untainted and unsuccessful. Can there be double punishment? Refund of salary has been directed, service has been terminated, and no age benefit. Then can they not sit for the examination? How many times will these people be penalised?" The senior advocate argued that if the tainted were not allowed, then unsuccessful candidates should not be either.
Advocate general Kishore Datta, representing the state, said that nowhere in the apex court judgment had it been specified that untainted candidates could not participate in any future recruitment process. "The SC judgment does not say that they will not be allowed to participate. The reason was that the tainted were punished by asking them to return the salary. SC expressly did not say two things: that they are debarred from participating in the future recruitment process and that the teaching experience will be taken away from their career," he argued.