High Court directs SSC to republish tainted candidates list with details

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday clarified that candidates flagged as “tainted” by the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC) — including those in the differently-abled category—have no right to sit for the ongoing recruitment exercise for upper-school teachers.

The court directed the Commission to republish the tainted list with each candidate’s name, father’s name and subject, stating that roll numbers and names alone were insufficient for accurate identification.

The order came on a petition by aspirants who failed the written examination for recruitment to Classes IX to XII.

They complained that four individuals whose names appeared in the Commission’s tainted list had nevertheless been permitted to sit in the selection test. The petitioners also sought publication of a list that would allow unmistakable identification of tainted candidates.

Justice Amrita Sinha held that the Supreme Court’s judgment, properly understood, bars all tainted candidates from participating, irrespective of disability status. She noted that the Commission’s interpretation — which treated differently-abled tainted candidates as eligible — was inconsistent with the apex court’s ruling.

Counsel for WBCSSC explained that two candidates, Nithish Ranjan Barman and Narayan Chandra Pal, had been allowed in because they fell under the physically-handicapped category discussed in paragraphs 48 and 49 of the Supreme Court’s April 3 decision. The Commission said it could not trace two other names due to spelling discrepancies.

However, Justice Sinha emphasised that the Supreme Court had allowed differently-abled candidates to continue only until the fresh recruitment concluded and had expressly restricted participation to those “not specifically tainted.”

The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for December 3.