The school service commission (SSC) is likely to publish a list of “tainted” candidates, including names, addresses and other details, by the end of November, a commission official said on Thursday.
Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the SSC to publish a complete list of tainted candidates. The interim order came during the hearing of a petition alleging that the SSC’s preliminary interview list for higher secondary teacher recruitment had included candidates previously barred by the Supreme Court from participating in the fresh selection process.
The order stated that the commission was directed “to forthwith publish a complete list of tainted candidates,” but the judge did not specify a deadline, the SSC official said.
Another SSC official said the commission is tied up with document verification for finalising the list of candidates eligible for higher secondary interviews. The SSC is also working toward publishing the secondary-level selection test results by November 22.
“Amid all these engagements, the court has given its order but has not set a deadline,” the official said. “We are likely to comply with the interim order by the end of November.”
Interviews for higher secondary teacher recruitment are set to begin soon, with Bengali and English interviews scheduled to start from November 26, the official said. “Amid all this, the commission must now make fresh preparations to publish the list of 1,806 tainted candidates, along with their addresses and other details, based on the court order. It will take some time,” the official added.
Wednesday’s order stated: “For identifying a candidate, name of the candidate along with his/her father’s name and the subject in which the candidate appeared for the examination are required to be published so that it becomes easy for the commission to identify them for the purpose of weeding out any tainted candidate who may have slipped out and appeared in the selection test.”
The order further stated that the SSC is bound by its counsel’s submission that none of the tainted candidates will be permitted to appear in the 2025 selection test. “All efforts ought to be taken by the commission to identify such tainted candidates and debar them,” it stated.
During the hearing, senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, appearing for the petitioner, named four allegedly tainted candidates — Nisith Burman, Deblina Jana, Joynal Abedin and Soma Das — who had made it to the pool of over 20,000 applicants called for interviews. The list was prepared on the basis of written test results, academic records and teaching experience.
Senior advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, representing the SSC, told the court that the commission was ready to comply with the order.
Justice Sinha’s order said: “... The aforesaid publication ought to be made for maintaining fairness and transparency in the selection process. Such list will also come to the aid of other competing candidates to draw the attention of the commission in respect of any ineligible candidate who may appear in the test.”
The court will hear the matter again on December 2.