The school service commission (SSC) began verifying documents on Tuesday to ensure that only eligible candidates are called for interviews for teacher posts in government-aided higher secondary schools.

On Day 1, 706 candidates were called to Acharya Sadan, the SSC office in Salt Lake.

The commission is checking whether the preliminary interview list includes any of the 1,806 candidates previously flagged as “tainted” and whether the academic credentials submitted during online applications match the original documents.

The verification began a day after a petition alleging that disqualified candidates from the scrapped 2016 recruitment have made it to the fresh interview list. Calcutta High Court agreed on
Monday to hear the petition, which claims that a teacher from Kaliaganj in North
Dinajpur — whose job was terminated after the Supreme Court struck down thousands of appointments made through a “vitiated” 2016 recruitment process — has been shortlisted.

Justice Amrita Sinha will hear the petition on Wednesday.

The SSC had published the list of 1,806 tainted candidates earlier at the Supreme Court’s instruction to prevent their participation in the new process.

The verification, scheduled to continue till December 4, will be followed by the publication of a sanitised list of
candidates eligible for interviews.

“We have asked candidates to bring all academic records and, wherever applicable, proof of teaching at the higher secondary level in government-aided or government-sponsored schools,” an SSC official said. “We will also cross-check if any name overlaps with those on the tainted list.”

The candidate from Kaliaganj who received an interview call reportedly wrote the September 14 selection test as a physically disabled applicant.

An education department official said the Supreme Court, while cancelling the jobs of 17,206 teachers on April 3, had granted certain protections to candidates with disabilities. The order allowed them to continue drawing salaries until the new recruitment concluded and permitted them to take part in the fresh selection with concessions such as age relaxation.

“During verification, the commission must determine whether the Kaliaganj candidate qualifies for these
relaxations. When the matter is heard in the high court, SSC’s lawyers are expected to present findings from the ongoing scrutiny,” the official said.

The process is also checking whether in-service teachers who sat for the exams actually taught in government-aided or sponsored schools, as this experience carried an additional 10 marks.

Postgraduate marksheets are being examined as well because academic qualification contributes 10 marks. Candidates scoring 60% or more at the postgraduate level receive the full 10 marks; those with 50-60% get 8, and those below 50% receive 6.

The interview list was compiled based on written test performance (60 marks), academic qualifications (10 marks), and teaching experience (10 marks).

In its April 3 order, the apex court divided the 17,206 terminated teachers into two groups: 15,403 “untainted” candidates allowed to continue working with salaries till December, and 1,806 tainted candidates barred from participating. All 15,403 in-service teachers appeared for the new selection test.