Recruitment: HC seeks summary of arguments

kolkata: A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday sought the summary of arguments from the contestants while hearing a prayer by West Bengal Primary Education Board for a stay on a single bench ruling that directed a CBI probe into appointment of at least 269 teachers in state government-sponsored or -aided primary schools.

The bench headed by Justice Subrata Talukdar said that hearing in the matter will be taken up again on June 30.

Appearing for the board, senior counsel Kishore Dutta submitted that one mark for a wrong question was given to the 269 candidates who would have benefitted from the exercise in the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) 2014, while over 20 lakh examinees were not given the same as that would not have had any additional outcome for them.

He submitted before the bench, also comprising Justice Lopita Banerjee, that those who had got marks above the cut-off or lower than it by at least two points were not given the additional mark as that would not have helped them in any way.

It was stated that an expert committee was appointed by the board to look into the issue of wrong question, which then recommended that an additional mark be given for it.

Justice Talukdar asked the board counsel if not giving the extra mark to each of the over 20 lakh candidates who appeared for the 2014 TET meant unequal treatment since 269 is a miniscule percentage of the total examinees.