New Delhi, August 20, 2025

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the review petitions filed by the State of West Bengal against the apex court’s April 3, 2025 judgment, which had upheld the cancellation of nearly 25,000 teaching and non-teaching appointments made through the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment process in 2016.

A bench comprising Justice PV Sanjay Kumar and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma observed that the review petitions were nothing but an attempt to reargue the matter on merits, despite the fact that the April 3 verdict had been delivered after extensive and exhaustive hearings and a detailed examination of all factual and legal issues.

The bench emphasized that the earlier judgment was not rendered in haste but came after a deep consideration of the irregularities, illegalities, and fraud that had marred the recruitment exercise.

“The judgment was passed after duly considering the reports of the Justice (Retd.) R.K. Bag Committee, findings of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and even the admissions made by the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC) and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) in their counter-affidavits,” the Court said.

The Court pointed out that one of the most damning lapses was the failure of the WBCSSC to preserve the original OMR answer sheets or even the mirror copies. This omission not only cast serious doubts on the integrity of the evaluation process but also made it impossible to conduct a fair verification of results.

Cover-up and Fraud Tainted the Entire Selection

The review bench reiterated what the April 3 judgment had already highlighted — that the authorities engaged in a deliberate cover-up of lapses and illegalities, thereby making it nearly impossible to verify the selection list.

“The inevitable conclusion was that the entire recruitment process stood compromised due to large-scale fraud and manipulation. To preserve the sanctity of public appointments, the entire selection was rightly invalidated,” the Court observed.

The judges added that while such cancellation may cause anguish to untainted candidates, the larger principle of ensuring purity and transparency in public recruitment was of overriding importance.

“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 said.

Adverse Remarks Against Authorities Justified

The bench also stood by the strong remarks made in the April 3 judgment against the State authorities and officials responsible for the recruitment scam. It said such observations were “fully warranted and justified,” given how the scandal had **wrecked the lives and careers of thousands of candidates — both tainted and untainted alike.”

The Court noted that the review petitions were essentially asking for a fresh rehearing, which is impermissible under the limited scope of review jurisdiction.

Background: The SSC Recruitment Scam

The roots of the controversy go back to 2016, when the West Bengal SSC conducted a massive recruitment drive for filling thousands of teaching and non-teaching posts in government and government-aided schools. Allegations soon surfaced that bribes and favoritism had determined many appointments, leading to what came to be known as the cash-for-jobs scam.

On April 22, 2024, the Calcutta High Court struck down nearly 25,000 appointments en bloc, holding that the entire selection process was “vitiated by fraud and tainted beyond repair.”

That order was challenged before the Supreme Court, which on April 3, 2025, upheld the High Court’s ruling, observing that allowing such appointments to stand would destroy public confidence in fair recruitment.

With the dismissal of the present review petitions, the April 3 judgment attains finality, leaving no legal recourse for the State to defend the appointments.

Case Title

State of West Bengal v. Baishakhi Bhattacharyya (Chatterjee) & Others, R.P. (C) No. 1729 of 2025 and connected petitions.