Orissa HC cancels recruitment of 711 Hindi teachers selected by Odisha Staff Selection Commission

In a major ruling, the Orissa High Court has nullified the recruitment process for 711 Hindi teacher posts conducted by the Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC), citing significant procedural irregularities.

The single-judge bench of Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad delivered the ruling on Thursday while adjudicating two petitions that contested the legality and fairness of the selection process, reported The New Indian Express.

Recruitment Process Found Incomplete

The High Court ruled that the selection process had deviated from the framework laid out in the original advertisement issued on October 10, 2024.

The notification had promised a two-tier examination, a preliminary and a main written test, along with bilingual question papers in English and Hindi. However, the Commission skipped the preliminary stage and held a single written test on May 15, 2025, carrying 150 marks, including a 20-mark section on pedagogy that appeared only in Hindi.

Justice Shripad observed that such deviation constituted a violation of recruitment norms and compromised the transparency of the process. The Commission’s subsequent attempt to justify its actions or compensate with a partial re-test was deemed inconsistent with the rules originally advertised.

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Directions For Fresh Examination

The court directed the Commission to restart the recruitment from the preliminary stage, adhering to the terms of the original notification. It instructed that the preliminary exam must be conducted with bilingual question papers and that the entire recruitment exercise should be completed within three months.

The ruling effectively resets the process to its initial stage, requiring all candidates who had applied to participate anew. The OSSC is now expected to issue a revised schedule for the Hindi teacher examination in compliance with the court’s directives.