Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of Calcutta High Court on Friday criticised the CBI for failing to produce the hard disk containing data related to the results of the 2014 teachers’ eligibility test (TET).

Justice Mantha said a hearing into the case about alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers at government-aided primary schools (Classes I to V) could not proceed if the hard disk was not produced.

The court gave the investigating agency seven weeks to submit the progress report.

Justice Mantha asked the CBI to take the help of cyber experts from any part of the world to probe the complaints of irregularities.

If required, the primary board will bear the expenses which will be incurred to consult the cyber experts, he said during the hearing.

On Tuesday, the court had asked the CBI to produce the hard disk by Friday.

Justice Mantha on Friday sought to know from the CBI’s counsel whether OMR (optical mark recognition) sheets could be retrieved.

“Does the CBI have the scanned copy of the OMR sheet? What was the status of the hard disk...? The court wants to know everything. The court is giving seven weeks. By this time, CBI has to give its report,” Justice Mantha said during the hearing.

The board had earlier declared that it was impossible to physically store all hard copies of the OMR sheets because of their volume over the years.

All that is left are the digital records of the OMR sheets.

A little over 59,000 teachers were recruited in schools based on the 2014 TET, held in 2015 following a notification published a year before.

A lawyer representing the candidates, who have alleged irregularities in the recruitment process, said they wanted the OMR sheets of all candidates to be produced in court.

Justice Mantha, on April 10 while hearing the case, had said the digital records (of the OMR sheets) cannot be erased easily and even if the records get erased, there are ways to retrieve the data.

“If the data cannot be retrieved by the CBI, the court would be forced to cancel the entire appointment process...,” the judge had said.

An official of the board said as the CBI took custody of the digital OMR sheets, it would not be possible to present them in court, as directed by the court earlier.

“The onus is now on the CBI,” said a board official.

Justice Mantha on Friday told the CBI to do its best in carrying out the probe.