Cal HC asks school service commission to publish OMR sheets of SLST 2025 candidates

Kolkata, Nov 27 The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the West Bengal School Service Commission to put up in the public domain the OMR sheets of candidates who appeared for SLST 2025 written examinations for classes 9-10 and 11-12.

Justice Amrita Sinha observed that the commission ought to ensure that the recruitment process is fair and transparent from the very first step to rule out any illegality.

The court directed the WBSSC to put up the OMR sheets of the candidates for classes 9-10 and 11-12 in the public domain so that none has any complaint against any candidate.

It also asked the commission to produce the list of candidates who were given appointment after expiry of the panel for jobs for teachers in West Bengal government-run and -aided schools as per the 2016 SLST (School Level Selection Test).

The court noted that the panel for the recruitment process in the 2016 SLST for classes 11 and 12 expired in November 2018 and for classes 9 and 10 in March 2019.

Justice Sinha directed that the matter would come up for hearing again on December 10.

The petitioners in the matter before the court of Justice Sinha participated in the second SLST 2025 conducted by SSC.

Stating that the results of the written examination for teaching jobs for classes 9 and 10 for SLST 2025 have been declared after the class 11 and 12 results, petitioners' lawyer Sudipto Dasgupta alleged that the names of tainted candidates appeared in both the lists of successful candidates in the written examinations.

Dasgupta prayed that the SSC should mention in the list of tainted candidates the category under which they fall, i.e, whether they were mentioned for rank jumping or for being appointed after expiry of the panel, etc.

The petitioners alleged that persons, who have been appointed after expiry of the 2016 panel and are thus tainted candidates, are being allowed to participate in the SLST 2025 recruitment process, contrary to directions passed by the Supreme Court.

The court had held that the appointment of persons after expiry of the panel is illegal, and the SSC was directed to publish the names of such candidates.

Dasgupta claimed that the Supreme Court had held that no tainted candidate can participate in the recruitment examination, and if any such person slips through, such candidature would be cancelled after verification.

The petitioners contended that a list has been published by the SSC containing the names of candidates who have an OMR mismatch as tainted ones.

He claimed that none of those who have been appointed after the expiry of the 2016 panel are being included in the list of tainted candidates.