HC pulls up edu secy over upper primary counselling delay

Kolkata: The Calcutta high court on Monday came down heavily on School Education Department principal secretary Binod Kumar over the delay in counselling for 1,177 candidates linked to upper primary vacancies, observing that “This conduct from the secretary is not acceptable” and suggesting that an adverse remark be incorporated in his Annual Confidential Report (ACR).The division bench comprising acting chief justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee made the observations while hearing a contempt petition related to the prolonged delay.The bench said, “They (candidates) are vagabonds? Waiting for two years… It is touching us now. Repeated adjournments, the high court is giving and the persons are suffering. What will litigants think?”Advocate general Surajit Nath Mitra submitted that appointments had already been processed for more than 14,000 candidates and that only 1,482 remained unresolved as they did not fit into any of the four existing categories.The acting Chief Justice, however, questioned the explanation, saying, “Do you want to reargue the matter? You were not there, your secretary came and said that the mismatch has been removed. We believed him repeatedly… Your secretary seems to be standing in the way… If you are not satisfied with our order. Go to the Supreme Court.”The bench, however, granted time to the advocate general, who assumed office on May 29, to obtain detailed instructions and brief the court on the matter. The case will be heard next on July 8 at 3 pm.