WBSSC Recruitment Scam: Supreme Court Orders Full Disclosure of Tainted Candidates, Hands Case to Calcutta HC
Supreme Court transferred the pending SSC recruitment matters to the Calcutta High Court, directing it to publish a full list of tainted candidates and ensure they were barred from the fresh selection process
WBSSC Scam Cleanup: SC Tells Calcutta HC to Act, Make Names of Tainted Candidates Public
The Supreme Court has disposed of a batch of special leave petitions arising from the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) appointments litigation, directing all petitioners to approach the Calcutta High Court, which is already examining the matter in a pending writ petition.
The Bench of Justices PV Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe noted that W.P.A. 26288/2025 is being heard by a single judge of the Calcutta High Court, who has already flagged multiple issues in orders dated November 7, 11, 12 and 19, 2025.
Since the High Court has taken up the implementation of the Court’s earlier judgment in State of West Bengal v. Baishakhi Bhattacharyya (Chatterjee) (2025 INSC 437), the Supreme Court held that it would be appropriate for the High Court, as the court of first instance, to carry forward the exercise.
The Court clarified that the SLPs had been kept pending only to verify whether its earlier directives in Baishakhi Bhattacharyya were being followed “scrupulously.” Now that the High Court is seized of the issue, the petitioners have been granted liberty to raise all their lawful grievances there.
Significantly, the Court directed the High Court to ensure that no “tainted candidates” are allowed to slip through in the fresh rounds of recruitment “on any pretext.” It further ordered that the complete list of such tainted candidates must be placed in the public domain with full details to prevent any irregularity.
The Bench also clarified that candidates who were earlier found untainted and permitted to sit for the fresh recruitment examinations cannot be adversely affected by the application of the newly notified West Bengal School Service Commission (Selection for Appointment) Rules, 2025.
The Court added that several petitioners who sought relief based on certain paragraphs of the Baishakhi Bhattacharyya ruling are at liberty to raise those interpretative contentions before the High Court.
Directing the High Court to decide the matter uninfluenced by any observations made in prior Supreme Court orders, the Bench disposed of the special leave petitions along with all pending applications.
On September 4, the Court had come down hard on the West Bengal government over its handling of the tainted teachers’ recruitment scam linked to the State Level Selection Test (SLST) conducted by the WBSSC. The Bench had pulled up the State for its submissions before the Calcutta High Court regarding tainted candidates. Expressing disbelief, Justice Sanjay Kumar had remarked, “You said our judgment does not say anything on tainted candidates being permitted to appear. This is how the State of West Bengal is understanding the judgment? What kind of blue-eyed girls and boys are these that you even bring in the Advocate General to argue for them?”
Notably, on August 29, the Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kumar had said, "You (West Bengal government) have the list of tainted candidates, given by the CBI. If you are allowing any of those candidates to appear again, take it from us, we will come down on you like a ton of bricks."
It is to be noted that on April 22, 2024, the Calcutta High Court quashed SLST-2016 appointments, calling the selection “shrouded in mystery” and ordering cancellations.
Case Title: Bibek Paria & Ors v. The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Order Date: November 26, 2025
Bench: Justices PV Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe