The Madras High Court bench here on Tuesday ordered an interim stay on a single judge’s order directing the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) to conduct a fresh examination for the selection of postgraduate assistants in Tamil.
Justice S. Nagamuthu had issued the order on October 1 on the grounds that there were numerous errors in the question papers distributed to a section of the candidates.
A division bench comprising Justices M. Jaichandren and S. Vaidyanathan ordered the stay and adjourned the case to November 12, based on an appeal filed by the principal secretary of school education, director of school education and the secretary of the TRB.
The officials submitted that the typographical errors in the question papers did not change the meaning of the questions or affect the understanding of the candidates or the results.
A total of 8,002 candidates had written the exam with ‘B’ series question papers, which had typographical errors, but only two of them approached the court, they claimed.
According to the officials, out of the top 10 scorers, six candidates had written the exam with the ‘B’ series question papers.
The printing errors were beyond the control of the officials, they submitted in their appeal.
A batch of petitions was filed by the candidates who wrote the competitive exam with the ‘B’ series question papers before Justice Nagamuthu.
They had claimed that 40 questions out of 150 in the ‘B’ series question papers distributed to around 8,000 candidates had errors. A total of 32,000 candidates had written the exam across Tamil Nadu.
The TRB had admitted to typographical errors in the question papers, but submitted that the TRB had decided to delete the 40 questions from valuation, and evaluate only 110 questions for all the candidates and award marks on a pro rata basis.
The judge declined the suggestion and ordered the conduct of a fresh examination.
