The high court has asked the state primary education board to submit details of the panel based on which the board appointed 42,000 teachers after the teachers’ eligibility test (TET) held in 2015.

Justice Amrita Sinha gave the order on Tuesday while hearing a case on alleged irregularities in the appointment.

The court has asked the board to submit the panel, which is a list of names, by July 30.

“The court wants to see the panel which, according to the board, has already expired. So publish the panel within 15 days,” Justice Sinha said.

TET is held to shortlist candidates to appoint them as teachers in government-aided primary schools.

The test was held in 2015 based on a notification issued in 2014.

The court was hearing petitions by some candidates whose names were not included in the panel and who alleged irregularities in the appointments.

The petitioners also demanded that the board produce a panel of waitlisted
candidates.

“However, the board did not accept their prayer. So, they moved the high court,” a lawyer representing the petitioners said.

The primary board usually draws up an additional list comprising waitlisted candidates that acts as a backup in case those appointed from the regular merit list don’t join and vacancies crop up.

“But if all the first list candidates take up the offer, the board may decide not to publish the back-up list,” said a senior board official.

Dibyendu Bhattacharya, the counsel who appeared for the petitioners, said: “The board did not prepare the merit list. There was no panel at all. So, they could not publish the list (containing additional candidates).”

The board’s lawyer opposed the claim and said that the merit list with marks obtained by candidates was published.

“Since the panel has already expired, it is not possible to publish any panel containing names of the additional candidates (from the waiting list),” the board’s lawyer said.

The board in November 2022 uploaded the details of marks of the 2014 TET candidates who later got appointed as teachers in 2016 and 2020, following a court order.

Metro reported in November 2022 that the details of marks that had been uploaded showed that several of them were marked erroneously while factoring in their higher secondary exam scores.

Asked about the order, Gautam Paul, president of the board, said: “Let us first go through the text of the order and then we will decide.”

The case will again be heard on July 30.