Final merit list changed,again

The subjects in which the final merit list is due to change are Non-Medical,Hindi,Punjabi and Social Studies. The department had recruited 532 teachers last year. On April 7,Newsline exposed irregularities in the merit list in Non-Medical stream. Candidates who scored more marks in the list were not called for the interview.

Now,new lists have been prepared and the department has called 16 candidates for fresh interviews on May 31 at the Government Model Senior Secondary School,Sector 16. There are 14 candidates for Non-Medical subject and one each for Hindi and Punjabi.

Sources in the Education Department said the tentative merit list prepared for Social Studies subject has also turned out to be faulty.

Many candidates spoke against the erroneous list,which has already been put up on the internet,though it’s yet to be officially declared. Now,around 19 such candidates who were ignored in the tentative list,are being considered and will be called for interview soon.

Confirming the development,Public Instructions (Schools) Director Sunil Bhatia said,“We received numerous representations from candidates. After going through them,we found merit in cases of 16 candidates and have now called them for interview.”

The department was caught on the wrong foot after it declared erroneous results in the beginning of this year. Soon after the matter was highlighted by Newsline,the department went on changing the results and terminated services of many wrongly-recruited candidates. Certain deserving candidates eventually got jobs.

While the department has admitted to the error in four subjects,faulty recruitments in many other subjects are yet to catch the department’s attention. For instance,Satwinder Kaur secured 34.01 marks out of 90 and was called for the interview in the Nursery-Teacher Training category. While scrutinising the results put up on the Internet,Newsline found that as many as 13 candidates had scored more than her but were not called for the interview.

Similarly,in Fine Arts,Manisha Rani secured 27.41 marks out of 90 and was called for interview. As many as 28 candidates scored more than Manisha but did not feature in the merit list.

The status in Physical Education is even worse. Monika Dhiman secured 38.64 marks out of 90 and made it to the list. No less than 58 candidates with more marks than her were not called for the interview.

CBI,too,on the lookout

The Central Bureau of Investigation,taking cognizance of the erroneous recruitments,has initiated an under-cover inquiry into the matter. The CBI questioned a few UT Education Department officials and inspected records pertaining to recruitment,said sources.