Justice Biswajit Bose of Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the CBI to investigate an allegation that 21 teachers for classes IX and X in government-aided schools were given appointment though they had crossed the age limit.
The judge, while delivering the order, said: “If it is found in the probe that many other candidates managed to get jobs the same way, the court will have no other option but to cancel the entire panel of 2016.”
The 21 teachers were part of the TET 2016 panel.
A petition that came up for hearing in Justice Bose’scourt contained a list of 21 teachers who were recruited by the West Bengal School Service Commission though they had allegedly crossed the age limit of 35 years. “All of them were 40 years or older when they got the jobs,” counsel for the petitioner said.
After hearing both sides, the judge said the allegation should be investigated by the CBI.
Around the time Justice Bose was ordering yet another CBI probe into alleged irregularities in school recruitment, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyayof the high court expressed dissatisfaction that one after another allegation of illegal recruitments for primary schools were coming before the court.
At one point, Justice Gangopadhyay summoned state advocate-general S.N. Mookherjee and sought his opinion.
Justice Gangopadhyay said“limitless irregularities had been committed” by the primary education board while recruiting teachers on the basis of the TET (teachers’ eligibility test) 2014. A few days back, the judge had said that, if needed, he would cancel the 2014 panel.
Justice Gangopadhyay also ordered the vice-chairman of Bhatpara Municipality, in North 24-Parganas, to appear before him on December 16. The order followed a petition alleging that the vice-chairman had got the job of a teacher in a primary school without qualifying in TET. The judge asked the Barrackpore police commissioner to ensure the presence of the vice-chairmanin the court on December 16.