Kolkata, Feb 23 The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) to disclose, through an affidavit, details of the money collected from candidates who sought review of allegedly incorrect questions in last year’s recruitment examination.
Hearing a petition in the matter, Justice Amrita Sinha of the Calcutta High Court sought clarification on whether the questions flagged by candidates were indeed incorrect and how much money had been charged from candidates for raising objections.
The court also asked the SSC to specify, in accordance with its rules and procedures, how much money, if any, was refunded to candidates in cases where questions were subsequently found to be incorrect.
Justice Sinha further sought details on the total number of questions that were ultimately found to be incorrect and the number of complaints received by the Commission regarding alleged errors in the examination.
The court directed the SSC to submit a detailed affidavit within four weeks addressing all the queries raised during the hearing.
The High Court also questioned the legal basis for collecting such fees, observing that if there was no specific provision in law permitting such charges, the Commission would have to explain under what authority the money was collected from candidates.
The matter relates to allegations that around 24 questions in the second State Level Selection Test (SLST) conducted by the SSC in September last year were incorrect.
Based on these allegations, a group of candidates, including one Chandan Dhar, filed a petition before the Calcutta High Court, challenging the validity of the questions and the fee charged for raising objections.
The petitioners alleged that the SSC had charged Rs 100 per question from candidates seeking review or raising objections, despite there being no clear legal provision permitting such charges.
Counsel for the petitioners, Firdous Shamim, argued before the court that while a fee may be charged for accessing or viewing answer scripts, there was no legal basis for charging candidates to raise objections regarding errors in question papers.
The petitioners further contended that such charges restricted the rights of examinees to challenge potentially incorrect questions and seek fair evaluation.
Taking note of the submissions, the High Court directed the SSC to place its response on record through an affidavit and clarify the legal and procedural basis for collecting objection fees.
The court has scheduled the next hearing in the matter after four weeks.
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