Two judges of a division bench of Calcutta High Court differed while fixing eligibility marks for reserved category candidates who cleared the 2014 and 2017 Teachers’ Eligibility Tests (TET).
The eligibility marks would enable the candidates to appear in the interview, the final hurdle before the recruitment.
Justice Subrata Talukdar, the senior judge on the bench, held that the eligibility marks for a reserved category candidate should be 82. Justice Supratim Bhattacharya said the cut-off should be 82.5.
The case was then sent to Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam so it could be assigned to a third judge.
According to the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE), for general category candidates, 60 per cent in TET would make them eligible for the interview. It would be 55 per cent in the case of the reserved category candidates.
A board official said a candidate in the general category had to score 90 out of 150 to make the cut.
For the reserved category, as 55 per cent of 150 works out to 82.5, the board had considered the round figure of 83 before November last year, sources said.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had in November 2022 brought down the eligibility marks for the reserved category candidates to 82 and said those who had scored 82 and above should be considered eligible.
Some of the candidates had moved the division bench against the 82-mark cut-off.
The appeal came up for disposal before the division bench on Wednesday when the two judges gave two different opinions.
“We are awaiting an order. Till an order comes, we cannot proceed with appointments for the reserved category posts. This back-and-forth in court is delaying the recruitment,” a board official said.
Days after the order by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a separate portal was opened for the submission of forms by reserved category candidates who had scored 82 and above and had been declared successful.
“A large number of candidates applied in that portal and we have processed their applications. Now their fate hinges on what the court says next,” the official said.