CHENNAI: The VCK and the CPM on Monday urged the State government to order an inquiry into alleged irregularities in the evaluation of the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) examination conducted for the recruitment of 2,708 assistant professors in government arts, science and education colleges.
Both parties also sought suspension of the recruitment process until the allegations were investigated.
VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan said the results, announced on June 25, had shocked candidates and fuelled demands for their cancellation. Citing anomalies in the marks awarded, he claimed that one candidate who secured 111 out of 150 in the first Tamil paper was awarded zero out of 50 in the second paper, while another who scored 54 out of 150 obtained 49 out of 50 in the second paper.
Questioning the credibility of the evaluation, he said it was difficult to believe that doctoral degree holders could score zero in one of the papers. He alleged that the discrepancies pointed to serious flaws in the evaluation process and called for a comprehensive inquiry and justice for affected candidates.
In a separate statement, CPM state secretary P Shanmugam demanded re-evaluation of paper II, publication of the evaluation methodology, marking criteria, score normalisation process, individual marks and cut-off scores. He said the reported inconsistencies had eroded aspirants' confidence and called for the appointment process to be kept in abeyance until the review was completed.
Pointing out that around 9,000 assistant professor posts remained vacant, he said recruitment was currently being carried out for only 2,708 posts despite a notification for 4,000 vacancies. He also sought the preparation of waiting lists for future appointments. He urged the government to conduct a time-bound inquiry into the allegations and take action if any irregularities were established.