Publish ‘tainted’ Group C, D list: HC, petition challenges 5-mark experience weightage
Telegraph | 2 December 2025
Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the school service commission (SSC) to publish a detailed list of “tainted” candidates among the sacked Group C and Group D employees who have been barred from participating in the new recruitment process.
The interim order was passed while the court was hearing a petition alleging that the number of non-teaching candidates debarred by the SSC is “much less” than the number mentioned in the Supreme Court’s April order.
A separate petition, also heard on Monday, challenges the new recruitment rules for non-teaching staff in government-aided schools, particularly the allocation of five marks for experience.
Both petitions were moved by advocate Firdaus Shamim. Justice Sinha clubbed the two matters and scheduled the next hearing for January 6.
The SSC opened online applications for the fresh recruitment exams for non-teaching staff — slated for January — on November 3. The window will remain open until December 3.
The Supreme Court’s April order cancelling thousands of appointments made through the 2016 Regional Level Selection Test (RLST) had cited “substantial” illegalities.
The Supreme Court had directed the SSC to conduct a fresh recruitment drive to fill vacancies created by the termination.
Ahead of the application process, the SSC uploaded a list of 3,512 “tainted” candidates, those who were appointed and removed due to irregularities and were barred from the fresh process.
Shamim claimed the figure should be 7,293. “The number has been fudged so the tainted candidates can be appointed again,” he alleged.
The CBI investigation into the appointments had found: candidates jumping ranks, appointments of individuals from outside the approved panel and without recommendations, and discrepancies between OMR scores and those retrieved during the probe.
Commission officials said the figure of tainted non-teaching candidates they have put out is based on those recommended by the state secondary education board and removed due to irregularities.
One official said that the petitioners were citing total tainted candidates instead of those actually appointed and later removed.
“The petitioners are alleging OMR score mismatch. But they are not saying that out of 3,481 candidates for Group C, only 782 had been appointed. Similarly, they are not saying that out of 2,823 candidates for Group D, 1,911 had been appointed,” the official said.
“By not putting out a clarification, they are trying to portray a mismatch between the figure presented before the Supreme Court and the one that the commission has put out,” the official said.
“We mentioned 3,512 because they had been appointed and removed. They can be classified as tainted,” the official said, adding that none of them would be permitted to sit for the fresh tests.
Senior advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay stated that the SSC would comply with the high court’s interim directive.
Non-teaching employees expressed concern that the petitions may delay the recruitment process.
Amit Mandal, spokesperson for a platform of non-teaching staff, said: “At a time when we are looking forward to a fresh recruitment exercise, these petitions are trying to derail the process. When all the sacked staff are not tainted, why should everyone suffer?”