Supreme Court to publish list on ‘tainted’ candidates a moral victory say ‘untainted’ teachers

Kolkata 

The Supreme Court’s direction on producing the list of ‘tainted’ candidates is a moral victory for them, claim ‘untainted’ teachers appearing in the fresh recruitment process of the West Bengal School Service Commission. But ‘forcing’ untainted candidates to sit for fresh recruitment process is a “death sentence” for the deserving candidates.  

This comes after the Supreme Court of India on Thursday (August 28) directed the West Bengal School Service Commission to publish a list of ‘tainted’ candidates on their website in the next 7 days. A bench of justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma said that they are monitoring the fresh recruitment process. 

Mehboob Mondal, a representative of the Jogyo Shikkhok Shikkhika Adhikar Mancha (JSSAM), also said that the apex court has failed to help the ‘untainted’ candidates through any concrete steps. “The court has found SSC guilty, they have found the tainted candidates. Then why were they not punished, and we are being punished instead?” Mr Mondal said. 

There were around 3,000 teachers from the 2016 panel who could not fill up the new recruitment process form due to change in the hiring rules, they have been given a relaxation by the top court to fill up the form. 

“The court accepted that there are over 15,000 untainted teachers. Now they will publish the list of tainted candidates also. Then forcing us to reappear for exams 9 years after we were hired is a death sentence for us,” Subhojit Das, another teacher who lost his job after the April 3 Supreme Court judgement, told The Hindu on Friday. 

From the streets back to books 

The top court has also refused to postpone the examination date, which is scheduled for September 7 and 14. The teachers had urged the court to give them one month to prepare. 

Teachers also pointed out that they have been fighting this battle for justice, jobs, and dignity since April 3 and have been on the roads ever since and did not have enough time tp prepare for the new examination. 

Many ‘untainted’ teachers have died due to stress, many have died of chronic illness, and many have tried to die themselves during the long battle for their jobs. “The court is so inhuman that they could not see our plight, how will we pass the exams amid such mental stress? Our colleague Chinmoy Mondal went to Delhi to speak at the court on Friday (August 29, 2025), he was not allowed a single chance to put forth our grievances as a teacher who lost his job,” Mr Das said. 

The new recruitment process is open for all, and the 2016 panel teachers who lost their jobs fear that they will be forced to compete with young candidates who have had much longer to prepare, leaving them at a disadvantage. 

“Court could hear the tears of dogs, but we did not make it to their list of concerns. We have lost all faith in the justice system,” Mr Das added. 

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday (August 28, 2025) said that when the list of tainted candidates is published it will prove that the Mamata Banerjee government gives jobs to undeserving candidates. “Once the list is published then why the exam for the deserving candidates? Once you remove the tainted candidates, the rest are deserving. After the list is published we will raise our voice to take action against the entire ministry, including the resignation of the CM,” Mr Adhikari said.  

On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court order that cancelled the appointment of all candidates in the 2016 panel. They also asked the WBSSC to conduct a fresh recruitment process and scrap all the people hired in the 2016 panel.