Calcutta: A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Friday took note of "massive irregularities" in the teachers' eligibility test (TET) conducted in 2012 but refused to cancel the recruitment of 19,000 primary schoolteachers on the basis of their performance in that examination.

Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed the West Bengal Board of Primary Education to pay Rs 1 lakh to each of the 20 petitioners who had challenged the appointments as "their cost of the case".

"It has been established in the case that massive irregularities took place in the 2012 TET. But considering the consequences of cancelling the examination process (now), the court is not delivering an adverse order. The entire system of recruitment in primary schools in Bengal will be disturbed if the court cancels the examination process," the division bench said.

The order states that any adverse order will also affect the future of the candidates already in service in primary schools for five years.

According to the guidelines of the National Council for Teacher Education, questions pertaining to teaching in schools should be part of TET. "But apart from including out-of-syllabus questions, the (state) board included some questions that had no connection with the teaching process," the bench observed.

A group of 20 candidates who did not clear the 2012 test had challenged the recruitment process on grounds of the TET paper containing questions that were "out of syllabus".

Advocate Bikram Bandyopadhyay, the counsel appearing for the petitioners, said his clients had decided to appeal the order in the Supreme Court.

The division bench asked the state board to give special preference to the petitioners whenever TET is conducted again. The court also advised caution in conducting the test.