HC judge questions Manik on 2016 TET selection list

Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday summoned former West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) president Manik Bhattacharya, in custody over the school recruitment case, and questioned him on the aptitude test held for TET 2016 candidates. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had on February 21 held an in-camera questioning of schoolteachers who conducted aptitude tests of candidates for recruitment in state primary schools in 2016. Petitioner Priyanka Naskar had moved the HC alleging that no aptitude test was held in 2016. Naskar’s advocate Tarunjyoti Tewari alleged that the board did not follow reservation guidelines while preparing the candidate list. He said the list also did not provide the breakup of marks. Justice Gangopadhyay asked Bhattacharya whether any selection committee was formed in 2016, to which he answered that a panel was formed on the instructions of the board. The judge asked who had published the results of TET 2016, to which Bhattacharya expressed his inability to reply as the process was done in parts. Justice Gangopadhyay asked the accused whether the publication of the TET 2016 result was outsourced to any agency, to which Bhattacharya replied that an agency was engaged after following all rules. However, he could not name the agency engaged for the purpose. The judge asked Bhattacharya if he had heard the name of the agency M/S P.Basu Roy & Company, to which the latter submitted that he could not recall the name of the agency. To a question from Justice Gangopadhyay over the conduct of the aptitude test in 2016, Bhattacharya said there was no record, during his tenure as board president, of the test not being held. He also submitted that the selection list was prepared following reservation rules. Bhattacharya sought time from the court to give detailed replies to the judge’s questions.