The school service commission (SSC) on Sunday forwarded a list of “deserving” and “undeserving” candidates to the school education department before it is uploaded on the panel’s website, said an official.

The list is of all the teaching and non-teaching candidates whose names the commission had recommended to the secondary education board based on a recruitment test conducted by the SSC in 2016.

The board, which governs secondary and higher secondary schools, issued the appointment letters.

“Before the list is uploaded on the commission’s website, we need to know what it contains. If required, we can take a legal opinion on this and communicate the same to the commission,” said sources in the education department.

The state government, after meeting a delegation of dismissed teachers at education secretariat Bikash Bhavan on Friday, had promised to publish a list of the “deserving” and “undeserving” among the sacked school employees if legal counsel permits.

“It is possible to come out with a list of the deserving and undeserving candidates... But we have to seek legal counsel before doing anything,” education minister Bratya Basu had told a news conference on Friday.

Sources in the department said the SSC in mid-February gave an affidavit to the Supreme Court identifying 5,303 tainted candidates who had got jobs through alleged irregularities as teaching and non-teaching staff at the secondary and higher secondary levels of government-aided schools.

The SSC arrived at the figure based on the CBI probe that followed a Calcutta High Court order.

The SSC had recommended 25,753 candidates as teaching and non-teaching staff.

The issue of the SSC publishing the list of “deserving” candidates arose ever since the Supreme Court on April 3 terminated the jobs of all 25,753 candidates, arguing that the entire recruitment process was “vitiated” and that there was an attempt to “cover up” the illegalities.

The Deserving Teachers’ Rights Forum has demanded that the SSC come up with a list of “deserving” candidates.

“We are preparing to file a review petition before the Supreme Court. If the SSC uploads the list of deserving candidates, we will attach the list to our petition. This will strengthen our appeal,” said a Forum member.

Minister Basu had said on Friday that they intended to publish the list by April 21.