‘Tainted’ on asst prof hiring panel, medics slam health board
Times of India | 19 November 2025
Kolkata: The West Bengal Health Recruitment Board (WBHRB) has not replaced the "tainted" or "accused" faculties interviewing candidates to fill approximately 621 posts of assistant professors across state-run medical colleges. This decision comes despite a controversy that arose after the names of domain experts on the interview panel became public before the recruitment began.
Candidates have raised questions about transparency, alleging it is being "compromised" as some faculties allegedly involved in corruption and threat culture have been made domain experts. The state has been flooded with plaints since the interview for recruitment of assistant professors began on Nov 14. The 11-day interview will continue till Nov 28.
Members of Association of Health Service Doctors West Bengal made a deputation in front of Swasthya Bhavan, demanding transparent recruitment in West Bengal Medical Education Service. Utpal Bandyopadhyay, general secretary, said, "Though we demanded removal of controversial faculties from the panel, our demand has not been met."
Experts on the panel are supposed to mark candidates out of 15. According to sources, they are marking them out of 5, while the rest of the marks are being given by the board. WBHRB chairman Sudipto Roy said some new experts have been added but others have not been removed. "Interview is being recorded on camera," he said.
Sourav Dutta, chairman of state-level grievance redressal cell, said, "I am disappointed that the HRB couldn't avoid controversy for hiring 621 assistant professors." Karabi Baral, secretary of Progressive Health Association, said, "The board has not brought out any revised list of domain experts. We only heard from sources that some new experts have been added."