‘Had to maintain sanctity of selection process’: SC dismisses Bengal govt’s review plea in SSC recruitment case

The August 5, 2025, order dismissing the review petition said, “The settled legal position obtaining on the strength of case law was duly considered in the context of the illegalities in the selection process brought out by the reports of the Justice (Retd) Bag Committee and the Central Bureau of Investigation along with the admissions made by the West Bengal Central School Service Commission and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in their counter affidavits.”

The top court said, “The failure on the part of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission to retain the original physical OMR sheets or at least the mirror copies thereof was a significant factor which weighed with the High Court and with this Court. Further, it was noted that the cover-up of lapses and illegalities by the authorities made verification and ascertainment more difficult, leading to the inevitable conviction that the entire selection process was compromised owing to such illegalities.”

The bench pointed out that “the entire selection, therefore, had to be invalidated to maintain the sanctity of the process of selection, which should be pristine and free of all such infirmities.”

It, however, added, “…the interests of the appointed candidates who were untainted were sought to be protected to the greatest extent possible, as is evident from the concluding paragraphs of the judgment.”

“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 court said.

The apex court also upheld the adverse remarks against the state authorities in the judgment. “Last, but not the least, the adverse remarks made against the authorities concerned, who were wholly and solely responsible for this entire imbroglio, adversely affecting the lives of thousands of candidates, untainted and tainted, were fully warranted and justified.”

The court said that the “review petitions which, in effect, seek a re-hearing of the entire matter on merits, therefore, do not deserve to be entertained as all relevant aspects have already been examined and considered comprehensively.”