Supreme Court sends back SSC cases to Cal High Court
Times of India | 27 November 2025
Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sent back a host of cases related to the ongoing State Level Selection Test (SLST), being conducted by the Bengal school service commission, to Calcutta High Court with a few observations. The high court is likely to hear the matter on Nov 28.
The cases in the apex court covered multiple issues, including a challenge to the 2025 rules based on which the test is being held and whether tainted, physically disabled candidates who appeared in the 2016 test would be allowed to participate in the fresh recruitment process. The school service commission had submitted before the high court that tainted, physically disabled candidates be allowed to take part in the fresh screening.
The high court had earlier scrapped the entire panel prepared after the 2016 test on the grounds of irregularities, necessitating the fresh test.
Although no order was passed, SC observed that the test for the candidates who had appeared in the 2016 test should have been conducted separately from the one for the fresh candidates.
It also observed that tainted candidates with physical disabilities should not be allowed to appear in the fresh test as the earlier judgment had ruled out the participation of all tainted candidates in any recruitment process.
Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who is representing the candidates challenging the 2025 rules, said, "I argued at Calcutta High Court that the new vacancies should be segregated from the ones that resulted from the scrapping of the 2016 panel... Today, SC said the test for the two categories of candidates should have been held separately."
These cases were part-heard at Calcutta High Court when the litigants moved the apex court.