Bengal school jobs loss: Will publish ‘tainted’, ‘untainted’ list post SC nod, salary disbursal to continue: Min

Kolkata: Amidst the mass protest by West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitees on Monday, Education minister Bratya Basu told the media that the WBSSC could not publish the list of tainted and untainted since there is no legal clarity on the same and the state is likely to go for a review petition for this purpose.

He added that the lists of ‘tainted’ and ‘untainted’ teachers and appointees will be published only after receiving the Supreme Court’s approval. Basu also assured that teachers deemed ‘eligible’ and ‘deserving’ will continue to receive their salaries until December 31, 2025, as permitted by the Supreme Court ruling allowing those not labelled ‘tainted’ to remain in service.

Calcutta High Court is set to hear a contempt petition on Wednesday against the state and the WBSSC for allegedly violating directions of the court in relation to publication of OMR sheets on WBSSC website and recovering money received as remuneration and benefits from the tainted candidates.

Amid mounting protests over the 2016 teacher recruitment issue, the WBSSC, on Monday midnight clarified: “In respect of the matter of recruitment of teachers in 2016, it is made clear that SSC will abide by the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court…It is informed by the Department that the salary of teachers who have rendered services will be disbursed according to the existing system.”

However, the clarification failed to pacify the agitating teachers. On Monday, they decided to launch an indefinite sit-in outside Acharya Sadan, the WBSSC headquarters, after the Commission failed to release—by midnight—the list of 2016 SSC qualifiers whose appointments were annulled by the Supreme Court.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of teaching and non-teaching staff, whose jobs were invalidated by the Apex Court, staged a protest march to the SSC office demanding immediate publication of the list of deserving candidates.

The protestors even clashed with police and attempted to breach barricades to lay siege to the SSC office. Tensions flared further after news surfaced that the Commission will certify only the first three of the 13 rounds of counselling held for the now-invalidated teachers of classes IX-X as valid, implying that names of candidates recruited from the fourth round onward would not be certified as ‘deserving’ candidates by the SSC. Similarly, for classes XI-XII teachers, only the first two of the seven rounds of counselling would be certified by the commission.

Earlier, a 13-member delegation from the agitating teachers met SSC chairman Siddhartha Majumdar in a meeting that began at 4:30 pm and continued for several hours.

“We received information from our representatives inside that the SSC is planning to upload the list of untainted candidates up to the third counselling, as only those three were held within the one year period,” said one of the protesting teachers.

“This is grossly unfair and amounts to a further attempt by the commission to obliterate transparency. We will not accept this and will remain here until the complete list of untainted candidates from all counselling sessions, along with certified OMRs, is presented to us,” the teacher added.

On behalf of the Deserving Teachers’ Forum, Mehbub Mondal declared: “We will not allow the SSC Chairman or anyone else to leave the premises till the entire list is uploaded.”

The protestors also demanded the resignation of SSC chairman Siddhartha Majumdar and state Education minister Bratya Basu, citing mismanagement and lack of transparency.

Earlier, on April 11, Bratya Basu had said that the WBSSC may publish the complete list of tainted and untainted candidates within about two weeks, subject to legal clearance. With the deadline nearing and no list in sight, protests have intensified.

Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi was moved on Monday with a contempt petition which alleged that the WBSSC and the state failed to comply with the directions issued by this bench in its judgement on April 22, 2024, and with the Supreme Court’s recent judgment on April 3, 2025.

It was broadly alleged that the direction to upload OMR sheets on WBSSC website was not complied with and neither any steps were taken to recover money received as remuneration and benefits from the tainted candidates. There is no information regarding taking in persons who had received appointments beyond the panel, after expiry of the panel and after submitting blank OMR sheets.

The state and WBSSC sought time to respond. Noting that CBI was not made a respondent in this case, the court directed service of contempt petition on the CBI counsel. The matter is listed for hearing on Wednesday (April 23).