CBI files fresh FIR over irregularities in teachers' recruitment in Bengal schools

The FIR has been registered against unidentified people on a Calcutta High Court order directing the federal probe agency to investigate the allegations, officials said

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a fresh FIR in connection with alleged irregularities in the appointment of assistant teachers for primary schools in West Bengal in 2020, officials said Sunday.

The FIR has been registered against unidentified people on a Calcutta High Court order directing the federal probe agency to investigate the allegations, they said.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the process of appointing 16,500 primary teachers initiated by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) on November 23, 2020, for Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) passed and trained candidates.

The WBBPE conducted interviews and aptitude tests of the candidates and published the first merit list on February 15, 2021.

"It is alleged that the West Bengal Board of Primary Education adopted dubious and corrupt means in the appointment of assistant teachers for primary schools in West Bengal and in order to do so and also in order to keep the applicants in darkness, the WBBPE didn't publish the entire merit list of successful candidates," the FIR alleged.

It was contrary to the provisions of West Bengal Primary Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016 and the subsequent amendments, it stated.

According to the FIR, undeserving candidates were cleared through the merit list by manipulating their categories from General to Exempted.

"It is also alleged that as part of a criminal conspiracy, the unknown officials of West Bengal Board of Primary Education also extended undue advantages to certain candidates by awarding high marks even more than the total marks prescribed/stipulated on the educational qualifications of such candidates in TET," the FIR said.

The Calcutta High Court is monitoring the cases pertaining to the teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal.

The court had in January removed an officer from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI, which is probing the primary school teachers' recruitment scam for failing to take ahead the probe properly.

Forming the SIT in June last year, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had said that the probe into the alleged irregularities in primary school teachers' recruitment will be monitored by the court.