Names of politicians in TET merit list creates a flutter in West Bengal

Lawyers have raised the issue of unusual names at the Calcutta High Court and urged the Court to find out the veracity of the names

Mamata Banerrjee scored 92 marks while Suvendu Adhikari hit a perfect 100. Dilip Ghosh and Sujan Chakraborty both scored 92 marks. As investigation in the recruitment scam in the State picks up pace, a merit list with the names of prominent West Bengal politicians created a flutter on Monday. The list also included Amit Shah’s name. 

A group of lawyers raised the issue of unusual names before Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court and urged the Court to figure out whether these names pertain to candidates who appeared in the examination or not. According to the lawyers, the names were part of the merit list of Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) 2014 conducted by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) which has been released recently.

The development comes at a time when the Calcutta High Court is hearing several cases of irregularities in the recruitment scam in the State. Sharing the list of candidates securing marks, State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar raised the issue on social media .“This is the level of education and assessment in West Bengal. Corruption is high and education and assessment is poor. Sad state of affairs. When did (will) @MamataOfficial stop playing with life of candidates?,” he tweeted.

WBBPE said that there was nothing wrong in the list and the names were of genuine candidates. Gautam Pal, president of WBBPE said that there are three candidates in the list which have the name of “Gautam Pal” and all of them are genuine candidates.

Meanwhile, the bail petition of seven accused in the recruitment scam including former Minister Partha Chatterjee was rejected by a city court. The accused will remain behind bars till November 28. Though the city court rejected the bail it sought to know from the investigating agencies how much time they will take to complete the investigation.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in an oblique reference to the allegations of irregularities in the recruitment process said that only those who work commit mistakes. “Only those who work commit mistakes. Don’t we stumble while walking,” Ms. Banerjee said. The Chief Minister added that a conspiracy is being hatched against the State, and the ruling Trinamool Congress is being defamed as a part of the exercise.

“If a person has committed any mistake, one should be given a chance to rectify those mistakes. If someone got involved in any wrongdoing, the law will take its own course. But a media trial is going on,” she added.