The Calcutta High Court will take up on November 19 a petition alleging multiple anomalies in the interview list of more than 20,000 candidates shortlisted for recruitment as teachers for classes 11 and 12 in government-run and aided higher secondary schools in West Bengal.
The matter was mentioned on Monday before Justice Amrita Sinha, with the petitioner seeking an urgent hearing since interviews are scheduled to begin on Tuesday. Justice Sinha asked the petitioner to serve notice on the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) and other respondents, and listed the case for hearing on Wednesday.
According to petitioner’s counsel Firdous Shamim, several candidates who should have been barred from the recruitment process have found their names in the interview list. He referred to the Supreme Court’s direction that no “tainted candidates” be permitted to sit for teacher recruitment examinations and alleged that this had been violated.
Shamim also submitted that secondary-level teachers were wrongly awarded experience marks in the recruitment process for higher secondary posts. The petition further claimed that even employees of the health department had been given experience-related marks intended for school teaching roles.
The SSC published on Saturday the interview list of 20,500 candidates who cleared the September 14 recruitment test for higher secondary posts. A senior SSC official said the list was prepared on the basis of three parameters: performance in the written test (60 marks), teaching experience (10 marks) and eligibility (10 marks).
The court will examine the allegations when the matter is heard on November 19.
