SSC chairman appears before Calcutta High Court in contempt case

KOLKATA: The chairman of the West Bengal School Service Commission on Friday appeared before the Calcutta High Court in connection with contempt petitions moved by candidates alleging they were not awarded marks for out-of-syllabus questions in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) of 2011 as ordered earlier.

Holding that an affidavit of compliance filed before it by the chairman of SSC is not acceptable, the high court had on March 17 directed the SSC chairman to appear before it on March 24. In compliance with the direction, SSC chairman Siddhartha Majumdar appeared before the court of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha.

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The court had passed the direction on contempt petitions filed by 83 candidates who had alleged that marks had not been given for out-of-syllabus questions for the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualification of 2011, the first stage of the state-level selection test (SLST) of 2011. The court asked the SSC chairman to inform it by next Friday how much the rectification of the procedural errors has progressed.

Justice Mantha had, during the hearing of the contempt petitions on March 17, said that it is apparent that marks for questions out of the syllabus have not been awarded to any of the petitioners. It is after qualifying with the minimum number of marks stipulated by the NCTE that a candidate qualifies for the other stages, which are the personality test and interview.

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Justice Mantha had directed that the pendency of the contempt proceeding will not prevent the SSC from awarding the marks to the petitioners as was directed in an order of June 29, 2022. The five contempt petitions, involving 83 candidates, were filed alleging that the order of June 29, 2022, was not given effect by the SSC.