RAMESH MALIK Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners have alleged that some persons -names and other particulars of whom have been given in the writ application and in the supplementary affidavit affirmed on 9/6/2022 filed today before this court - have been given appointment though they have not qualified in TET, 2014. For getting a service in a primary school as a teacher a candidate must have passed in Teacher Eligibility Test (TET in short). The petitioners have further alleged that 23 lacs candidates appeared in TET, 2014 and one panel was published for giving appointment of more or less 42,000 candidates as primary teachers. The petitioners have expressed serious suspicion about the legality and correctness of publication of such panel.

(2.) By filing the supplementary affidavit as aforesaid it has been submitted that though the panel was published in 2016 a further panel named - additional panel - was published on 4/12/2017 and the document annexed in the supplementary affidavit is only in respect of the said additional panel District Hooghly wherein not only one candidate Supriyo Sarkar who was not a qualified candidate in TET was named in the second panel and got appointment but also other candidates totaling to 68 candidates in the district of Hooghly have been given appointment by publishing the second panel or the additional panel.

(3.) In reply to a question asked by this court, learned advocate for the West Bengal Board of Primary Education ('the Board', for short) has submitted that though there is no provision in the relevant law for publishing another panel but if situation arises and if it is found necessary by the Board, it can publish a second panel and such necessity was felt because of demand of large number of candidates demonstrating before the Board's office and the Board decided to send the question and answers of TET, 2014 to some expert and the expert found that one question and its answer in TET, 2014 was wrong. Therefore, the Board decided to give one mark to the agitating candidates who filed applications for reconsideration of their marks in TET 2014 with their testimonials including their training qualifications. This submission of training qualification is also a doubtful question keeping in mind the other TET qualified candidates. It is an admitted position that there was no public announcement either in the website of the Board or in any newspaper that such application with testimonials can be made to the Board and the Board would consider such testimonials.