The school service commission will extend the last date of application by 10 more days as ordered by the Supreme Court on Thursday, said an SSC official.

However, the commission was finding it difficult to “postpone the process of selection accordingly” as specified by the apex court, the official said.

A division bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma ordered a 10-day extension of the deadline to submit applications and postponement of the selection process accordingly, 18 days before the SSC was to hold the selection tests on September 7 and then on September 14.

The online submission of applications for the second State-Level-Selection-Test (SLST), which started on June 16, ended on July 21 after a week’s extension by the SSC.

The Supreme Court on Thursday heard a prayer by some of the sacked but “not specifically found to be tainted teachers”, who could not apply following an eligibility criteria introduced by the SSC, adhering to what the NCTE mandated.

These candidates alleged that they could not apply as the SSC had made it mandatory that those applying must have 50 per cent marks at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Such a condition was not in force when they wrote the 1st State-Level Selection Test (SLST) in 2016.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said such teachers who were permitted to continue till December 31 despite being sacked on April 3 would have to be given a chance to apply “without insisting upon” the NCTE-specified (National Council for Teacher Education) eligibility norms.

An SSC official said they were worried about how to comply with the Supreme Court’s order to postpone “further the process of selection”.

“We fixed the dates of September 7 and 14, which are Sundays. September 21 marks Mahalaya, the start of Durga Puja. Besides, the Supreme Court in its April 17 moderated order told us to complete the recruitment process by December 31. If we don’t hold examinations on September 7 and 14, how can we scan the answer scripts of 5.85 lakh applicants, interview those who qualify, and complete the counselling?” said an SSC official.

The official said they have to schedule the exams on Sundays when school buildings are available.

“The higher secondary third-semester examination will be held from September 8 to September 22. So we can not hold the examinations on weekdays. The Puja vacation will start on September 24 and will end on October 6. Is it possible to hold exams during Puja? If we hold examinations after the Puja break, then it will be difficult to end the recruitment process by December 31,” the official said.

“We have to check the availability of logistics before deciding on the dates. We will study the order in detail,” said SSC chairperson Siddhartha Majumder.