The Bengal advocate-general told a division bench of the high court on Thursday that it was not clear how the court decided to cancel an entire panel recruiting 36,000 primary schoolteachers based on the contention that the aspirants had not taken aptitude tests.

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had scrapped the panel on May 12, 2023.

He later quit his seat in the court to become a BJP MP.

On Thursday, advocate-general Kishore Datta concluded his submission in a petition filed by the Bengal government challenging the scrapping of the panel.

Datta argued that it was not clear how the judge had concluded that the aptitude tests had not been conducted.

Datta said: “Only 143 aggrieved candidates who failed to get primary (Classes I to V) schoolteacher jobs had moved the court. Justice Gangopadhyay randomly spoke to these aspirants and decided that the aptitude tests had not been conducted and, citing illegalities in the process, cancelled the panel. This is incorrect.”

Datta said the order reflected an ad hoc approach.

“Between December 2022 and May 2023, 15 hearings were held in the court (of Gangopadhyay). Then, the judge ordered scrapping of the entire panel,” he said.

In 2014, around 25 lakh candidates had written the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) conducted by the state primary education board.

Aptitude tests had been conducted for those who had cracked the test, a board official said. Appointments were given to 36,000 candidates in 2016.

A division bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakrabarti is now hearing the case, amid protests over the Supreme Court scrapping 25,753jobs at the secondary and higher secondary levels of government-aided schools.

Amid this chaotic situation, the uncertainties in the education system will multiply if the services of 36,000 primary schoolteachers are terminated, an official of the school education department said.

Datta said the only charge against the state primary education board was that the aptitude tests had not been held, and those with lower marks had been recommended.

“This cannot be the basis for cancelling the entire panel. Besides, the court concluded this without letting the opposing side challenge the contention. This is against natural justice,” said Datta.

The court will now go through the submissions of other lawyers, both from the prosecution and the defence, and then give its verdict.