SC Junks Plea Challenging New SSC Recruitment Rules

MP | 22 July 2025 |  Kolkata:  The Supreme Court on Monday reportedly dismissed a petition challenging the new recruitment rules framed by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC), observing that the plea lacked merit.

A division bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma is learnt to have made it clear that the court had never directed that recruitment must follow the old rules. It stated that the SSC, being a responsible body, has the authority to decide on the recruitment process.

“Nowhere have we said that the old rules must be followed. Please read our judgment. We said a new recruitment process must begin. SSC can take decisions regarding recruitment,” Justice Kumar reportedly observed.

The petitioners, some of whom were waitlisted candidates from earlier SSC recruitment, had approached the Supreme Court after the Calcutta High Court dismissed their plea.

The High Court bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das had refused to interfere with SSC’s new recruitment notification, observing that while the commission and the board were responsible for the present deadlock, filling up vacancies promptly was essential to avoid further complications.

During Monday’s hearing, senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, representing the petitioners, sought to withdraw the petition after part of the hearing had already taken place. The bench rejected the request and dismissed the case, calling such conduct unfortunate.

Justice Kumar also recalled that the 2024 ruling cancelling the 2016 SSC panel, which led to the termination of over 25,000 jobs, was delivered after thorough deliberation.

“I had agreed with the then Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna before the judgment was passed,” he said.