The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on Thursday asked the District Inspector of Schools to find replacement for 1,911 Group D employees in 400 Madhayamik (class 10) examination centres whose appointment have been withdrawn by the WBBSE in compliance with the Calcutta High Court order.

The Madhyamik examination begins on February 23.

Board President Ramanuj Ganguly told PTI Thursday that it has been found that of the 2,867 examination centres, Group D employees of 400 centres will be among these over 1,900 staff whose deployment has turned impossible in the wake of the developments in the court.

"We have also issued a circular to the district inspector (DI) of schools on Wednesday to immediately find their replacement as not more than one week remains for the exams to start," he said.

The circular, signed by WBBSE Deputy Secretary Mousumi Banerjee (Bhadra), stated "in compliance with the order of the Hon'ble High Court, "appointments of 1,911 Group D staff have been withdrawn by West Bengal Board of Secondary Education recently. In 400 centres/venues, only of Madhyamik Pariksha 2023, it has been found such staff will no more be able to perform examination related duties during Madhyamik Pariksha, 2023......You are therefore requested to arrange Group D in case of need notified by examination centre in such venues." "The examination centre will take a call on the exact number of replacement and inform the District Inspector of schools who will expedite the process by appointing staff from nearby schools if and whenever required," Ganguly said. Over 6.9 lakh candidates will write the papers in the secondary examinations which will be held from February 23 to March 4.

The Calcutta High Court recently ordered retrenchment of 1,911 Group D employees in state-run and state-aided schools and the board had complied with the directive announcing they are being taken off duty immediately.

About a week back, the WBBSE had announced on the website that process has been immediately initiated to take off 1,911 Group D employees from roster in their respective state-run or aided schools as per the direction of the high court which said their appointment was manipulated. The sacked employees then moved the high court bench to stay the order.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.