HC pulls up TN Teachers Recruitment Board

Madras High Court today pulled up Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board for its contention that the 47 mistakes in a 150 type objective paper was a printing error, saying that if the TRB chairman was not able to ensure correctness of questions, "he is unfit to be chairman."
Justice S Nagamuthu said it did not make any difference to students whether a printer made the mistakes or the one who had set it. It was not fair to put the blame on others for such mistakes, he said.
If the chairman of board is not able to ensure correctness of questions, then he is unfit to be a chairman, the judge said.

He sought to know why the TRB chairman had not appeared in court and whether he should issue any warrant to him, and said he wanted to hear the chairman's view also.
TRB, responding to a petition by a candidate who appeared for Postgraduate Assistants (Tamil) exam, seeking grace marks, contended that the confidential printer, given the task of printing B-Series question paper in which mistakes were found, was solely responsible and should have ensured the accuracy of the proof as per the manuscript provided.
TRB Secretary D Vasundara Devi said they give manuscript copies to the confidential printers who set the master copy and complete proof reading with their experts.

She said that sealed question papers are opened by TRB only in the exam hall to ensure security and confidentiality.

TRB said a three-member committee formed to examine complaints had unanimously concluded that the errors were only spelling mistakes, the meaning and content had not been affected in any way and also it did not affect candidates' option of choosing the right option.
The committee opined that the PGs would be able to understand and answer the questions without any problem.
TRB said a confidential preliminary analysis of results showed six out of 10 scores in Tamil were from those who wrote it with "B" series question papers. Also the average mark of those who wrote the exam was similar, irrespective of the question paper series.

TRB contended it followed the general practice of other recruitment agencies. So the question of deleting or awarding marks or conducting re-exam did not arise. If it was held, successful candidates who scored high marks would have been affected.
The judge said TRB could have alerted candidates and rectified the mistakes half-an-hour before the exam. He pointed out that earlier there were 73 mistakes in a question paper.
The judge, after hearing the arguments, posted the case to September 18.