HC div bench upholds bar on tainted candidates in SSC fresh recruitment drive

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has upheld a single bench order restraining tainted candidates from appearing in the fresh examination linked to the 2016 recruitment process conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC).

A division bench comprising Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das De on Thursday dismissed petitions filed by the West Bengal government and the SSC challenging the directive issued earlier this week by the single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya.

Senior advocate Bikashranjan Bhattacharya, appearing for a group of eligible candidates, argued that allowing tainted candidates to participate would compromise the very purpose of holding a fresh examination to correct a flawed recruitment process. He alleged that by clubbing new vacancies with those from the 2016 panel, the authorities were creating a backdoor entry for tainted individuals.

Countering the claim, senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing the SSC, contended that barring tainted candidates amounted to punishing them twice and violated the principles of natural justice.

However, the division bench rejected this contention, observing that permitting tainted candidates to participate would undermine the integrity of the court-monitored recruitment. The bench also noted that the single bench’s reliance on a Supreme Court order was justified. Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya had observed that the apex court had unequivocally barred tainted candidates from taking part in the fresh selection process. The state’s argument—that the Supreme Court merely denied relaxations to tainted individuals but did not bar their participation—was rejected. It was pointed out by advocate Bhattacharya that paragraph 49 of the Supreme Court order stated that only candidates “not specifically tainted” would be eligible to participate.

He argued that this clarified the court’s intent to exclude tainted individuals from the process. The Division Bench said it would pass further orders on remaining issues next Monday.