Kolkata, June 3: The notification issued by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to fill vacant posts of teachers in state-run schools has been challenged at the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday.

The single-judge vacation bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury admitted the petition. The matter is likely to come up for a hearing at his bench on June 5.

The petitioner claimed that certain points in the notification, especially those as regards to changed weightage criteria in the distribution of total marks in the recruitment process, violated the Supreme Court’s directives on fresh recruitments.

The main ground on which the notification was challenged was that the weightage criteria in the distribution of total marks had changed from those in 2016.

As per the new notification issued last week, the written examination in the fresh recruitment process will carry 60 marks, as against 55 for the 2016 panel.

Secondly, the weightage criterion for educational qualification in the fresh recruitment process is just 10 as against 35 for the 2016 panel.

Most importantly, two new weightage criteria, each carrying 10 marks, “past teaching experience” and “lecture demonstration”, have been introduced.

Soon after the notification was issued, several legal minds apprehended that the notification may face legal hurdles because of the changes in weightage criteria in total marks distribution.

Legal minds felt that while two new weightage criteria were introduced to give an advantage to the teachers from the 2016 panel who lost their jobs. They opined that the changed criteria would be disadvantageous for fresher candidates.

Bringing about changes in the weightage criteria was grossly illegal since the same weightage criteria, which applied to the 2016 panel, should also be there in the fresh recruitment process, they said.

Now their apprehensions have come true after a petition challenging the notification was filed at the Calcutta High Court, exactly on the points highlighted.

On April 3 this year, the Supreme Court’s division bench of erstwhile Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a previous order by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi cancelling 25,753 school jobs in West Bengal.

The Apex Court also accepted the observation of the Calcutta High Court that the entire panel of 25,753 candidates had to be cancelled because of the failure of the state government and the commission to segregate the “untainted” candidates from the “tainted” ones.

The state government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) had already filed review petitions at the Apex Court on this issue.

Sydney, June 3: Australian scientists are using cutting-edge underwater robots to explore remote and largely uncharted reef systems in the South Pacific, the University of Sydney said on Tuesday.

As part of a major international expedition, Australian scientists are mapping deep-sea habitats and biodiversity near Norfolk Island, an isolated Australian territory 1,600 km northeast of Sydney, one of the South Pacific’s most ecologically important regions, according to a university press release.

Its location and mix of tropical and temperate ecosystems make it key to tracking species shifts and climate change impacts, the release said.

Equipped with high-resolution cameras and sensors, the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles are capturing thousands of images to create 3D maps of the seafloor and document marine life in unprecedented detail, it said, adding underwater robots serve as the eyes and hands of scientists, safely exploring deep-sea areas beyond the reach of human divers.

“It’s the first time that parts of the seabed in the Norfolk Ridge will be imaged in this detail,” said Stefan Williams from the University of Sydney’s Australian Center for Robotics.

The expedition unites scientists from Australia and New Zealand to map the seafloor and collect marine specimens such as fish, corals, molluscs and algae to enhance knowledge of regional biodiversity, the researchers said.

“Norfolk Island is a key oceanic stepping stone for species between tropical New Caledonia and temperate New Zealand,” said Shane Ahyong, acting chief scientist at the Australian Museum Research Institute, leading the second phase of the Norfolk Island scientific expedition.

Thiruvananthapuram, June 3: With the number of Covid-19 positive cases increasing in Kerala, the Health Department has decided to come out with fresh protocols.

With around 1,435 patients turning positive for the virus, Kerala has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the country.

The directions have been given that all patients arriving with a fever at hospitals have to undergo Covid-19 tests.

Since fresh Covid cases started registering till now, eight Covid-positive patients have passed away.

Those patients coming with a fever will have to do an antigen test first, and if it is positive, they will have to take the RT-PCR test.

An advisory has been issued that those having health issues should use masks.

By-standers of those who are admitted to hospitals have to use masks, and all Covid positive cases have to be admitted to a separate ward.

Another reason why the health authorities decided to come out with fresh directions is that educational institutions in the state have opened on Monday, and a fever is raging in the state.

Meanwhile, while the fresh guidelines came out on Tuesday, in most private hospitals, all patients undergoing surgery had to come with a Covid-19 negative certificate, and this was being done as a matter of abundant caution.

Notably, the Covid-19 cases in the country have risen to 4,026 till 8 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Five fresh deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 37.

On Monday, Health experts assured that there is no need to panic as the current infection wave is unlikely to cause a higher burden on hospitals.

This fresh wave has been caused by two new coronavirus variants, NB.1.8.1 and LF.7, mutations of the Omicron offspring JN.1 variant. Both were found in India, as per data from the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), set up under the Ministry of Health.