School job case: Court order on publication of panel for primary teachers challenged by Bengal Govt

Kolkata: The West Bengal Government, on Monday approached a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court challenging the order of a single-judge Bench of the same court, seeking publication of the panel of 42,000 primary teachers in different state-run schools.

The Division Bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Uday Kumar admitted the petition challenging the earlier order by the single-judge Bench of Justice Amrita Sinha. The matter might come up for hearing next week.

Two phases of recruitment of primary teachers were done on the basis of the teachers' eligibility test (TET) examination conducted in 2014, the first being in 2016 and the second in 2020.

Although the single-judge Bench had directed the publication of two separate panels of recruitments in 2016 and 2020, the state government had contended that there is no specific rule under which the panels can be published.

While directing the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), Justice Sinha observed that it was evident that the Board was trying to shield someone due to its reluctance to make the panels public.

The Opposition parties in the state have claimed that by challenging the order the state government has indirectly admitted that there had been major irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers in 2016 and 2020.