Chhatrapati Sambhajiangar: The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Y G Khobragade directed the Maharashtra State Council for Examination (MSCE) on Tuesday to clarify, through an affidavit, on the action taken against 7,888 candidates found involved Teaches Eligibility Test (TET) scam.
The MSCE banned the candidates permanently from re-appearing for the TET due to being involved in the scam. The HC questioned whether the action taken against candidates was in proportion to the irregularities committed by them.
The MSCE was instructed to prepare a table under the monitoring of its senior officers. The table should contain details like petitioners' names, number of petitions, OMR sheet of candidates, marks on the OMR sheet and given in marks memo.
As per the orders, the competent officers will have to submit the affidavit. The next hearing has been placed on July 15, 2024. The candidates from the different parts of the State filed petitions in Bombay HC and its benches at Nagpur and Aurangabad against the action. A collective hearing was held in the Aurangabad bench of HC following directives from the chief justice of the Bombay High Court.
After hearing the arguments, the Aurangabad HC bench gave the above orders. Senior lawyer V D Sapkal appearing for petitioners said that the action was not taken by the competent authority. Other petitioners brought to the notice of the court that the MSCE cancelled the result of TET 2018.
“Action was taken against the candidates of TET 2018 who have not taken the test nor their result was declared. For some petitioners, March 31, 2019, was the last opportunity. Action was taken against 7,880 candidates. Some of the candidates work on different posts in various departments. They do not require a TET pass as an eligibility. Despite this, action was taken against them,” petitioners said.
Adv Anup Nikam, representing MSCE, said that the action was appropriate as it was taken due to irregularities committed by the candidates. Additional Government Pleader Subhash Tambe who appeared for the State Government advocated the action of the Council. Senior lawyer Rajendra Deshmukh advocates Siddeshwar Thombre, Shahaji Ghatol Patil, Vishal Kadam, Yogesh Patil and Shantaram Dheple appeared for the petitioners.