The school service commission (SSC) has pushed back the counselling process for candidates recommended for teaching positions at the higher secondary level (Classes XI and XII) in government-aided schools.
The counselling, which was earlier scheduled to begin in mid-January, has now been pushed to the end of the month. An SSC official said the delay was necessitated by a special round of interviews held on January 8, following a directive from Calcutta High Court.
In December, the high court had instructed the commission to conduct separate interviews for candidates who had failed to mention their caste categories while applying online and were therefore not called for interviews earlier. Acting on the order, the SSC interviewed 48 such candidates on Thursday.
The counselling list for higher secondary teachers will now be finalised only after incorporating the names of candidates cleared in this special interview round, an SSC official said.
The deferment is not limited to the higher secondary level. The commission has also postponed the document verification process for appointments to the secondary level (Classes IX and X), which was also slated to begin in mid-January.
The repeated postponements have heightened anxiety among candidates in the backdrop of the SSC’s earlier failure to complete the recruitment process by December 31, 2025. That deadline had been fixed by the Supreme Court in April last year after it terminated the appointments of teachers recruited through the SSC’s 2016 selection
process, terming it “vitiated” and “tainted beyond
redemption”.
The Supreme Court had annulled the appointments of 17,209 teachers on April 3, 2025. In July, the court clarified that 15,403 of them were “untainted” — elevating them from the category of candidates “not specifically found to be tainted” — and allowed them to continue drawing salaries until reinstatement. However, the court directed that even these untainted teachers would have to clear a fresh recruitment process to retain their jobs.
After the state secondary education board and the SSC sought an extension of time, citing multiple litigations challenging SSC recruitment rules, the Supreme Court on December 18 granted an extension until August 31, 2026.
Now, with counselling and verification processes being pushed back, many candidates fear the revised deadline may also be missed — especially with Assembly elections due in the coming months. Assembly elections in the state are usually held in April and May, a period during which the Election Commission of India enforces the model code of conduct.
“Since the schedule is being pushed back, we do not know whether the recruitment will be completed by August 31,” said Sangita Saga, one of the 15,403 untainted but terminated teachers who appeared for the fresh selection test held on September 14 last year. “The Assembly elections are scheduled in a few months. What if this affects the counselling process? Our future appears bleak.”
Similar apprehensions were echoed by other untainted candidates. “The ensuing elections are definitely a matter of concern,” said Saha, a teacher of computer applications posted in West Midnapore.
At the secondary level, the delay in document verification has left many candidates in limbo. Document verification determines the list of candidates eligible to be called for interviews.
“Despite being among the untainted, I had to appear for the fresh selection test on September 7. I cleared the cut-off, but we have not been called for interviews because document verification has not even begun,” said Mehboob Mandal, another untainted candidate. “The process was supposed to start in mid-January, but it has been pushed back. I do not know whether recruitment will be completed by August.”
SSC chairperson Siddhartha Majumdar said: “We have adequate time to complete the recruitment process by August 31 this year.”
