Cal HC to hear challenge to school jobs interview list on Nov 19

Kolkata, Nov 17 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court will on November 19 hear a petition alleging anomalies in an interview list of over 20,000 candidates who qualified in a teacher recruitment test for classes 11 and 12 in West Bengal government-run and aided higher secondary schools.

The petitioner's lawyer mentioned the matter before the court of Justice Amrita Sinha on Monday and sought an urgent hearing since the interview of candidates is scheduled to commence on Tuesday.

Justice Sinha directed the petitioner to serve notice on the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) and other respondents in the matter before the scheduled hearing on Wednesday.

Alleging several anomalies in the list, petitioner's lawyer Firdous Shamim claimed before the court that although there is a specific direction by the Supreme Court that no tainted candidate be allowed to sit for the teacher recruitment examination, names of several such candidates have appeared in the interview list.

It was also alleged that secondary level teachers got the benefit of experience-related marks in the examination for higher secondary-level teachers.

Shamim further alleged that even health department employees got the benefit of experience-related marks for school teaching jobs.

The SSC had on Saturday published the interview list of 20,500 candidates who qualified in the September 14 teacher recruitment test for classes 11 and 12 in West Bengal government-run and aided higher secondary schools.

A senior SSC official has said that the interview list has been prepared based on three criteria: how a candidate has scored in the written test (60 marks), teaching experience (10 marks) and eligibility (10 marks). PTI AMR ACD