RAMESH MALIK Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On 17/6/2022 I directed the West Bengal Board of Primary Education to produce The applications made by 2787 candidates who wanted their OMR sheets are to be reviewed/ reexamined as they alleged that there had been one question which was wrong for which they should be given full marks:- Today no such application, not even a single one, has been produced before this court. I ask the counsel for the Board as to whether these applications have been seized by CBI in course of its investigation and I am told that perhaps CBI has not seized these documents. That CBI has or has not seized such documents is not known to be the Board? Such submission is nothing but a last ditch effort to suppress fact which, if comes to light, will go against the Board. Thus it is ruled out that there was any such application by any person for review/re-examination of the OMR answer sheet. I hold that the Board's report in this regard and the submissions made earlier as to receiving applications are wholly untrue and baseless to say the least.

(2.) On that day I also directed the Board to produce The second panel of 273 candidates spread over the State under different district primary school councils as has been stated in paragraph 13 of the report filed before this court on 15/6/2022:- No second panel of 273 candidates spread over the State under different district primary school councils (as has been stated in paragraph 13 of the report of the Board filed before this court on 15/6/2022) has been produced before this court despite specific direction of the this Court. What has been produced is one letter signed by one R. C. Bagchi, Secretary of the Board dtd. 4/12/2017 with a computer generated list containing names and roll numbers of persons as a panel. I wholly disbelieve that this is a panel. Therefore, there is no existence of the said second panel. A panel in original without the signature of authorized person is not a panel. In such a case nobody takes the responsibility of the names of empanelled persons and several such lists of names can be shown as a panel. This is absurd.

(3.) In this regard learned advocate for one of the petitioners Mr. Dasgupta has drawn my attention to some Rules of West Bengal Primary School Teachers' Recruitment Rules, 2016 ('Recruitment Rules' in short). Under Rule 7 of the said Rules, he has submitted, there should be a selection committee for the purpose of selection of eligible candidates and the preparation of panel. In such produced documents stating that it is a panel, there is no whisper of such selection committee or panel prepared by the Committee. Mr. Dasgupta also submitted from Rule 8 of Recruitment Rules that the selection committee makes the prima facie scrutiny of the duly filled application forms submitted by the candidates having qualifications which has not been done for preparation of the second panels; as it could not be done also because preparation of second panel was not at all permitted under the Recruitment Rules.