Calcutta HC asks CBI to probe 'illegal' appointments of primary teachers in West Bengal schools

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the CBI to look into the appointments of 269 primary school teachers in West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools over allegations that they did not pass the eligibility test.

Passing the order, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed the primary education board secretary Ratna Chakraborti Bagchi and president Manik Bhattacharya to appear before the CBI at its office later in the day. Justice Gangopadhyay directed the CBI to institute a case and start investigation forthwith into the alleged illegal appointments to primary schools.

Also read | West Bengal Assembly passes bill to replace Guv with CM as chancellor of state-run universities

The petitioner, who had appeared for the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) in 2014, alleged that the 269 candidates were given an additional 'one' number for a wrong question out of around 23 lakh candidates. He claimed that a second panel with names of these 269 candidates was published in 2017.

Maintaining that the second panel was illegal, the court said that the appointment of these 269 candidates were void. It directed that the salaries of these teachers working in various schools of the state be stopped and that be disallowed from enter their respective places of work.

Also read | Protest by Class 12 students seeking pass marks disrupts traffic flow in West Bengal's Siliguri

Both Chakraborti Bagchi and Bhattacharya, in the wake of the high court directions, appeared before CBI sleuths and faced grilling for more than four hours. Justice Gangopadhyay had earlier ordered CBI investigation in at least eight cases of alleged illegalities in appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in government-sponsored and aided schools.