The Supreme Court of India on April 3, 2025, maintained the Calcutta High Court order cancelling appointments of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching employees at West Bengal government-run and aided schools. In its verdict, the court invokes gross irregularities in the process of recruitment that took place during 2016 by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC).

The scandal is a result of the SSC's 2016 recruitment process, in which around 2.3 million candidates vied for 24,640 posts. But an astonishing 25,753 appointment letters were issued, exceeding the number of posts advertised. Investigations revealed a number of discrepancies, including tampering with Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets and unauthorized alterations in candidate rankings. The revelations led the Calcutta High Court, in April 2024, to revoke the appointments.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar considered the appeals and held that the recruitment process itself was vitiated. The court held that the manipulations had vitiated the integrity of the selection process to the extent that the appointments were not sustainable. Therefore, the Supreme Court ordered the removal of all those who were appointed via this tainted process. Significantly, however, the court made clear that these persons will not have to repay any pay or rewards thus far accumulated.

Notice in accordance with the directive of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, dated 25.07.2023, in Diary No. 28088 of 2023 and Diary No. 28468 of 2023, regarding the publication of details for 907 candidates related to the 1st SLST, 2016 for classes XI-XII.

This ruling is a significant blow to the West Bengal government, which had appealed against the High Court's ruling. Judgement calls for immediate termination of concerned staff members. Furthermore, the Supreme Court permitted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to pursue the investigation of recruitment scams, whereby further legal penalties may be handed out to involved parties for these manipulations.

As the state tries to come to terms with the implications of this decision, all eyes now shift to the steps the government of West Bengal will take to fill the vacancies and that the recruitment process is fair and transparent in the future.