Edappadi K Palaniswami The controversy over the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board's (TRB) assistant professor recruitment examination has intensified, with AIADMK calling for an independent and thorough investigation into the recently announced results.The TRB declared the written examination results on June 25 for the recruitment of 2,708 assistant professors in government arts and science colleges.

In a statement issued on Sunday, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami alleged that there were widespread irregularities in the evaluation of the descriptive paper."Reports indicate that 42 candidates who scored exceptionally high in the objective section were awarded '0' marks in the descriptive paper, while 106 candidates received just '1' mark.

Notably, a candidate from the Tamil department who scored 111 out of 150 in the objective test was given a zero in the essay section," he said.He further claimed that some candidates who scored very low in the objective paper were awarded as many as 49 out of 50 marks in the descriptive section, significantly changing the final merit rankings.Questioning the evaluation process, the former chief minister said, "This clearly reflects an inconsistent and biased evaluation process," adding that it was difficult to understand how a candidate scoring more than 100 marks in the objective paper could receive zero in the descriptive section, or vice versa.

He also alleged that poor management over the years had left more than 50 per cent of assistant professor posts and several principal positions vacant.

He claimed this had contributed to a fall in higher education enrolment from 51.4 per cent during the AIADMK government in 2019-20 to 47 per cent.The party urged the Tamil Nadu government to immediately cancel the current TRB assistant professor examination results and order a comprehensive independent inquiry into the alleged irregularities.

It also demanded strict legal action against anyone found guilty of malpractice.The recruitment examination was conducted last December after a gap of nearly 25 years.

According to TRB sources, 42,064 candidates appeared for the test, which included a 150-mark objective section and a 50-mark descriptive essay paper.Ready to navigate global policies?

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