'Completely Motivated': WB Gov Objects To Maintainability Of PIL Before HC Seeking Joint Probe By CBI & ED Into Alleged Irregularities In TET 2014

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the State government to raise its preliminary objection in writing to the maintainability of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking a joint probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the alleged irregularities in the 2014 Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in West Bengal.

TET 2014 was conducted on October 11, 2015, with over 2.3 million candidates. Several TET 2014 candidates had approached the High Court in 2019, alleging discrepancy in the recruitment process. Thereafter, the Court had cancelled the entire selection process after hearing the matter.

The PIL filed by petitioner Tapas Ghosh through advocate Tarunjyoti Tiwari alleged that the eligible candidates had not been selected in the examination and that only candidates who had paid money to the members of the ruling party had been recommended for section by the concerned authority.

During the proceedings, Advocate General S.N Mookerjee raised a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition before a Bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj. 

The Advocate General submitted that the PIL had been filed after 6 years from the conduct of the examination and that no explanation had been provided in the petition for such a long delay. He further apprised the Court that no candidate had come before the Court objecting to the requirement process. 

Furthermore, raising objections to the locus standi of the petitioner, the Advocate General contended that the petitioner had merely mentioned in the petition that he is a 'social worker' however no relationship with any educational institution had been established by him. 

Terming the petition to be 'completely motivated', the Advocate General remarked further, "These kind of writ petitions are not even maintainable at the face of it". 

Pursuant to the submissions, the Court directed the State government to raise its preliminary objection in writing so that petitioner can have adequate opportunity to respond to it. Accordingly, the Court was directed to submit its affidavit-in-opposition within a period of 2 weeks. 

The matter is slated for further hearing on June 20. 

Case Title: Tarunjyoti Tiwari v. Union of India