Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Uday Kumar on Wednesday upheld an earlier order by a single- judge bench of the same court for publication of the optimal mark recognition (OMR) sheets for the recruitment of higher secondary teachers in different state- run schools in 2016.
On July 7 this year, the single- judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, directed West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to publish the OMR sheets of 5,500 higher secondary teachers who were recruited in 2016 as well as of those who were in the waiting list.
Justice Gangopadhyay also directed the commission to publish details like names, fathers’ names of the candidates, and also the names of schools where in the 907 candidates were appointed. It was the tampered OMR sheets of these candidates which were recovered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths while probing the multi- crore school recruitment case in West Bengal.
The commission approached the division bench of Justice Sen and Justice Kumar challenging the single- judge bench order on this count. On Wednesday after a detailed hearing, the division bench had upheld the order of the single- judge bench directing the commission to publish those details by July 28.
However, the division bench observed that no termination of service will be effective right at this moment since any decision on this count will depend on the results of a special leave petition filed at the Supreme Court.
The division bench also observed that the publication of the OMR sheets was necessary as the court cannot close its eyes in case there wad an irregularity in the matter.
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