The high court on Tuesday scrapped the appointment of Bobita Sarkar, who was recruited in a government-aided higher secondary school last June replacing Ankita Adhikary, daughter of former Trinamul minister Paresh Adhikary.
Bobita was given more marks than she deserved during the screening for the job conducted by the school service commission (SSC).
The commission gave Sarkar more marks in the academic score segment than what she should have got, said lawyers involved in the case.
Anamika Roy will replace Bobita, said Justice Abhijit Gangopdhyay.
Justice Gangopadhyay also asked Bobita to hand over the money she got from Ankita to Anamika.
Justice Gangopadhyay had on January 5 issued an interim order asking Bobita, who was then working as a teacher in a government-aided school in Cooch Behar, to deposit the amount she had received from Ankita in a bank account.
Ankita, whose father was minister of state for education in Bengal, got the job in 2019. She lost it in May 2022 after it emerged that she had been recruited illegally by the SSC. The court held that the job should have gone to Bobita.
The court had also ordered that Ankita return the amount she got as salary since joining the service and the amount be handed to Bobita.
Lawyer Sudipto Dasgupta, who appeared for Anamika, said: “Since it has been proved that there was a discrepancy in the marks awarded to her (Bobita), the court has asked the board to recruit my client, who should have been originally appointed. The court has also asked Bobita to hand over the money she received in two instalments from Ankita to my client.”
Calls and text messages from this newspaper to Bobita and her lawyer Firdaus Shamim failed to elicit any response.
An SSC official said Bobita should have been awarded an academic score of 31, out of 35. Instead, she was awarded 33.
“The error happened when the candidates' academic credentials were being verified by the commission’s regional office in Malda in 2017,” the official said.
The mismatch came to light after the commission had in July 2022 uploaded on its website details of the marks of those whose names had featured on the merit list for appointment as teachers in higher secondary schools.
The details included the candidates’ score in the written test and the academic score, which is a combination of the marks at the secondary, HS, graduation and postgraduation levels.
Bobita had scored 440 out of 800 in graduation (55 per cent). Had she scored 480 (60 per cent), she would have scored 8 in the graduation segment.
“Instead of awarding her 6, she was given 8. This was pointed out by the lawyer representing Anamika, who had moved the court with the plea that she be appointed in Ankita’s place,” the SSC official said.
A secondary board official said they are awaiting the court order and will act after going through it.