IN a historic judgment, the Supreme Court has struck down the West Bengal School Service Commission’s (SSC) 2016 recruitment panel, annulling 25,752 appointments and branding the entire selection process “tainted beyond redemption.” This ruling has not only shattered public confidence in the recruitment system but also plunged thousands of affected teachers into an uncertain future.

The verdict has ignited widespread political controversy and unrest, with the cancellation of appointments impacting nearly 26,000 teachers. The judgment pointed to grave irregularities including destruction and tampering of OMR sheets, manipulation of merit lists, and illegal appointments allegedly secured by bribes ranging from Rs 15-20 lakhs.

The SSC, central to this controversy, now faces the daunting task of restarting the recruitment process. In a press briefing, SSC Chairman Siddharth Mazumder admitted that completing a fresh recruitment within the court-mandated three-month timeframe is “not possible,” citing procedural complexity and a one-year panel term.

This statement clashed directly with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s earlier assurance that the state would meet the Supreme Court’s timeline. The contradiction has laid bare the dissonance between political declarations and bureaucratic feasibility, a pattern observed since the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011.

Mazumder distanced the SSC from the broader controversy, insisting, “I just recommend. Nothing more.” He added that the SSC is neither the employer nor responsible for salaries, evading direct accountability for the status of dismissed teachers.

Education Minister Bratya Basu echoed this ambiguity, stating, “We have no information that the canceled teachers are not going to school. We stand by the deprived and the deserving, humanly and politically.” Such statements have only intensified confusion and disillusionment among affected teachers.

TEACHERS’ FURY AND DEFIANCE

The judgment has provoked strong reactions from the dismissed teachers, many of whom have refused to vacate their posts or accept the notion of unpaid voluntary service, as suggested by Chief Minister Banerjee during an address to the newly formed Deprived Teachers Association.

“Everyone can give voluntary service,” she told a packed indoor stadium where entry was restricted to badge holders marked “We are worthy.” Her comments were met with backlash. Teachers demanded official reinstatement, not symbolic gestures or suggestions for work for free. They questioned the rationale of reappearing for examinations seven years after the initial process, especially when allegations of large-scale corruption, including question leaks and OMR manipulation, remain unresolved.

Banerjee announced the state would file a review petition in the Supreme Court within 15 days, engaging prominent legal figures like Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. However, she admitted the outcome remained uncertain: “If [the court] doesn’t give us a chance, then it's up to us to secure jobs for those who deserve it.” The vagueness of this promise has failed to pacify the thousands who have already endured months of protest, arrests, and state violence.

She also promised to separately address the grievances of candidates declared "unqualified" once clarity is achieved on who is eligible. For many, this feels like another bureaucratic delay tactic.

Investigations into the scandal have revealed extensive corruption. Thousands of OMR sheets were altered, defaced, or destroyed, with digital records either unavailable or tampered with. The Supreme Court questioned SSC’s invocation of a regulation allowing disposal of answer scripts after a year, ruling it inapplicable in this context. The destruction of records makes a fair re-evaluation of merit nearly impossible and reinforces suspicions of deliberate cover-ups.

Despite the court’s efforts to distinguish between qualified and unqualified candidates, the absence of transparent documentation has led to collective punishment, affecting even those who earned appointments honestly.

CPI(M) DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY 

CPI(M) West Bengal state secretary Mohammad Salim squarely blamed the chief minister, asking, “Why didn’t Mamata Banerjee submit a list of legally employed candidates? Why were the OMR sheets destroyed?” He alleged that the SSC, under her direction, withheld key evidence to shield those who bought jobs with bribes.

He alleged that the School Service Commission (SSC), acting under Banerjee's instructions, withheld critical information to protect Trinamool leaders, ministers, and officials who had secured jobs through bribes, citing the imprisonment of the former education minister as proof of high-level involvement. Dismissing Banerjee's attempt to deflect blame onto the CPI(M), Salim asserted that the party's name was never mentioned in court and urged dismissed teachers not to trust the chief minister’s "empty promises," reminding them of her history of unfulfilled assurances. Highlighting the manipulation of 952 and 907 OMR sheets in the recruitment for secondary and higher secondary teachers respectively, Salim called for full transparency and accountability. The broader scandal, marked by the tampering, destruction, and falsification of thousands of OMR sheets, has drawn sharp criticism from the Supreme Court, which expressed alarm at the scale of criminality.

In response, widespread protests have erupted across West Bengal, with Left-affiliated organizations demanding justice for legitimate candidates and condemning the state government’s complicity in the scam.

Anger has erupted across the state. Protesters in Burdwan, Behala, Jadavpur, and other districts have staged sit-ins and rallies. In several instances, peaceful demonstrations were met with police brutality. Female protesters reported harassment, fueling further outrage.

Protesters are demanding justice, reinstatement, and a transparent mechanism to identify deserving candidates. “We’re ready to kill ourselves,” declared one protester at a press meet. The sense of desperation is palpable.

Debanjan Dey, the West Bengal state secretary of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), delivered a scathing indictment of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), accusing its corrupt governance and unchecked greed of dooming 26,000 young aspirants in Bengal to a bleak and uncertain future. Describing the state as a "killing field" for its youth, Dey warned that the resulting despair is being exploited by RSS-BJP forces to sow division and violence. He pledged an unrelenting struggle for justice, holding the government, the School Service Commission (SSC), and even the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accountable for depriving deserving candidates of their livelihoods. Raising pointed questions about systemic delays, the existence of a "hidden list" to protect the guilty, and the suspicious silence surrounding corrupt leaders' assets, Dey alleged a deeper agenda involving the privatisation of education and communal polarization. Declaring solidarity with the affected teachers-whom he called the architects of society-Dey emphasized the need for unity in the fight for justice, condemning those complicit in the scam as fraudsters responsible for Bengal’s crisis. He warned that corruption sets off a chain of ruin and reaffirmed SFI’s commitment to standing by the betrayed youth of the state.

Kaninika Ghosh, West Bengal state secretary of the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), echoed the outrage, declaring that a deep stain of corruption has robbed 26,000 teachers of their rightful jobs, replacing merit with bribes and sacrificing the innocent. She condemned the organised nature of the scam, which she said has cast a long shadow over the state’s school education system and devastated countless families. “West Bengal is bleeding,” Ghosh asserted, directly questioning Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s role in the crisis. “Why this destruction? Why the rise of division while schools fall?” she asked, criticizing the government’s failure to safeguard the future of its citizens. Ghosh denounced the issuance of “empty certificates” in place of real livelihoods and held Banerjee personally accountable, calling her “the architect of this disaster” who must now face the consequences of her actions.

Minakshi Mukherjee, West Bengal state secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), condemned the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government for institutionalising a recruitment system rooted in bribery, where both those who paid and those who didn't have ended up as victims. She argued that this corrupt framework has crippled the state’s education system, leaving schools and poor children across West Bengal to suffer the consequences. Holding the state government squarely responsible, Mukherjee questioned why qualified candidates were labeled unqualified and accused the authorities of deliberately avoiding any fair evaluation process. She further alleged that the TMC’s true agenda is to indirectly assist the BJP, enabling the spread of RSS-run schools-from the hills to the jungles-that promote religious fanaticism and threaten the pluralistic fabric of the nation. “The TMC is turning West Bengal into a breeding ground for this poison,” she warned, demanding accountability for the erosion of both education and secular values in the state.

With the review petition pending and no immediate roadmap for reappointment or re-evaluation, the fate of nearly 26,000 teachers remains uncertain. The Supreme Court’s scathing judgment has spotlighted the depth of corruption within West Bengal’s education system. But while the state government promises reform and justice, thousands remain on the streets-angry, disillusioned, and determined to fight.

This crisis is not just about jobs. It is about broken trust, stolen futures, and the long, hard battle for accountability in a system where the lines between governance and malpractice have dangerously blurred.