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Updated June 14th, 2022 at 11:18 IST

West Bengal: Calcutta HC orders CBI to probe illegal appointments of 269 primary teachers

Calcutta HC has ordered the CBI to look into the appointments of 269 primary school teachers in government-sponsored and -aided schools in West Bengal.

Reported by: Nikita Bishay
West bengal
Image: PTI/ANI | Image:self
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In a major blow to the TMC government in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court has taken cognisance of the alleged illegal appointments of primary school teachers without clearing the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) and has ordered the CBI to look into the appointments of 269 such teachers in government-sponsored and aided schools in the state. 

In addition to that, after passing the order, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Monday had also directed the primary education board secretary Ratna Chakraborti Bagchi and president Manik Bhattacharya to appear before the CBI at its office later in the day for further questioning. Both the officials later appeared before the CBI and were interrogated for more than four hours. 

Notably, this came after a plea was filed in the Calcutta HC over the illegal appointments of teachers during the TET 2014 examinations. Concerning the same, Justice Gangopadhyay also directed the central agency to institute a case and launch an investigation forthwith into the alleged illegal appointments.

The plea alleging 'illegal' marking during TET 2014

A petition filed before the court has alleged that around 269 candidates were given an additional 'one' number for a wrong question out of around 23 lakh aspirants in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) held in 2014. Furthermore, it also claimed that a second panel with the names of those 269 candidates was published in 2017 and is illegal, thereby making the appointments of all those candidates void. 

The plea further directed that the salaries of such teachers working across the state must be stopped and they should be disallowed from continuing their service. 

it is pertinent to note that this is not the first time when a CBI probe has been ordered into alleged illegal appointments. Earlier, Justice Gangopadhyay had ordered CBI investigations in at least eight cases of alleged illegalities in the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in government-sponsored and-aided schools.

Calcutta HC orders CBI probe in primary teachers' job scam

The court order came just a week after, in another move, the Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into claims of the alleged sale of primary teachers' jobs by a person in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas. The order pertains to the allegations levelled by the former additional director of the central agency, Upen Biswas, who claimed that a man named Ranjan was into the business of selling primary school teachers' jobs. 

In a petition, it was claimed that no information was provided on the appointments made under TET 2014 panel despite filing RTI applications. 

Image: PTI/ANI

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Published June 14th, 2022 at 11:16 IST

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