Calcutta High Court axe on West Bengal primary education board chief: State education department is directed to remove Manik Bhattacharya, the president of the primary education board

Judge issues order after being dissatisfied with documents placed before him on recruitment of teachers

TT LEGAL REPORTER |  21.06.22 : Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the state education department to remove Manik Bhattacharya from the post of president of the primary education board and to appoint a new president as early as possible.

The judge held that Ratna Chakravarty Bagchi, now secretary of the board, would take charge as acting president till Bhattacharya’s successor was appointed.

The judge issued the order after being dissatisfied with the documents placed before him during the day on the recruitment of teachers by the board for government-aided primary schools on the basis of a teachers’ eligibility test (TET) held in 2014. 

In response to an order passed by the judge on Friday, the board on Monday submitted some documents related to the appointments.

The judge sent the documents to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in New Delhi to verify their authenticity.

Justice Gangopadhyay ordered Bhattacharya to attend his court at 2pm on Tuesday to answer queries regarding the appointments and the documents placed before the court.

On Friday, the judge had ordered the board to submit the names of the members of the committee responsible for recruitment of teachers. He had also asked for a copy of the resolution the committee members had signed to grant one extra mark each to around 1,800 candidates for attempting a question that was found erroneous.

The judge said on Monday that instead of the names of the recruitment committee members, the board submitted the names of the members of the syllabus committee.

The judge also sought the resolution containing the decision of the recruitment committee to select 273 candidates for appointment from the list of 1,800-odd candidates.

According to the judge, the resolution placed before him by the board was not in accordance with his order.

Following Justice Gangopadhyay’s order, the CBI has been investigating the alleged irregularities in the appointment of teachers for government-aided primary schools.

The judge, while handing the probe to the CBI, had announced that the court would monitor the investigation.