'Entire Selection Was Compromised' : Supreme Court Refuses To Review Quashing Of West Bengal SSC Recruitments

The Supreme Court has dismissed the review petition filed by the State of West Bengal against the April 3 judgment that invalidated nearly 25000 teaching and non-teaching staff appointments made by the West Bengal School Selection Commission (SSC) in 2016.

A bench comprising Justice PV Sanjay Kumar and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma observed that the April 3 judgment was passed "after hearing extensive and exhaustive arguments and upon considering all aspects, factual and legal."

The bench stated that the judgment was passed after duly considering the illegalities in the selection process brought out by the reports of the Justice (Retd.) Bag Committee and the Central Bureau of Investigation along with the admissions made by the West Bengal Central School Service Commission and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in their counter-affidavits.

Also, the bench noted that the failure on the part of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission to retain the original physical OMR sheets or at least the mirror copies was a significant factor which weighed with the High Court and with the Supreme Court.

Further, the review bench observed that the April 3 judgment noted that the cover-up of lapses and illegalities by the authorities made verification and ascertainment more difficult, leading to the inevitable conviction that" the entire selection process was compromised owing to such illegalities."

"The entire selection, therefore, had to be invalidated to maintain the sanctity of the process of selection, which should be pristine and free of all such infirmities," the bench observed. It also stated that the April 3 judgment protected the interests of untainted candidates to an extent.

"No doubt, invalidation of such untainted appointments would lead to heartburn and anguish, which the Court was fully conscious of, but protecting the purity of the selection process is paramount and necessarily has to be given the highest priority," the bench stated.

The bench added that "the adverse remarks made against the authorities concerned, who were wholly and solely responsible for this entire imbroglio, adversely affecting the lives of thousands of candidates, untainted and tainted, were fully warranted and justified."

The bench noted that the review petitions essentially sought a fresh re-hearing of the matter on merits.

The April 3 judgment was delivered by a bench comprising CJI Sanjiv Khanna (since retired) and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar upholding the decision of the Calcutta High Court, which invalidated nearly 25000 teaching and non-teaching staff appointments made by the West Bengal School Selection Commission (SSC) in 2016.

The Court approved the finding of the High Court that the selection process was vitiated by fraud and was tainted beyond repair. The Court upheld the High Court's judgment cancelling the appointments en-block.

On April 22, 2024, the Calcutta High Court had invalidated these jobs across government and aided schools. The jobs came under the scanner due to the infamous cash-for-jobs recruitment scam.

Case : State of West Bengal v. Baishakhi Bhattacharyya (Chatterjee) and others R.P (C) No. 1729 OF 2025 and connected petitions

Click here to read the order