Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sent back to the Calcutta High Court a set of petitions questioning the 2025 rules under which the second State Level Selection Test (SLST) is being held.
With this, the High Court is expected to resume hearing the matters on November 28.
The petitions deal with several concerns that had come up during the new recruitment process. These include the challenge to the 2025 rules themselves, the dispute over whether candidates earlier declared tainted but who have physical disabilities can be allowed to sit for the fresh test, and objections to awarding 10 marks for prior experience to teachers from private, state-sponsored, and unaided schools.
The WBCSSC had told the High Court that physically disabled candidates who were earlier marked tainted should be permitted to participate. Petitioners had opposed this.
Although the Supreme Court did not pass a formal order, it made two clear observations during the hearing. The bench said the recruitment ordered because of the irregularities in the 2016 SLST should have been carried out separately and should not have been combined with the vacancies created for the 2025 cycle.
It also said that once a candidate is found tainted, their disability status does not change that finding, and the earlier bar on tainted candidates appearing in the fresh selection test continues to apply. The revised test has to be completed by December 31, 2025.
Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, representing petitioners who have questioned the 2025 rules, said the court’s remarks reflect what he had argued before the High Court. He had submitted that the new vacancies should have been kept apart from the recruitment required under the Supreme Court’s earlier judgment on the 2016 panel.
The cases had been part-heard in the High Court but were on hold while the Supreme Court considered related issues. With Wednesday’s development, the High Court will now take them up again, beginning with the petition challenging the constitutional validity of the 2025 rules.