Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Miss Kiran Marandi vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors on 5 January, 2022
21
05.01.2022.
d.p.
In The High Court At Calcutta
Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction
Appellate Side
W.P.A 16724 of 2021
IA No. CAN 1 of 2021
(Via Video Conference)
Miss Kiran Marandi
-versus
The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Mr. Pradip Paul.
...For the Petitioner.
Mr. Bhaskar Prasad Vaisya,
Mr. Pinaki Bhattacharyya.
...For DPSC.
Mr. Ratul Biswas.
...For the Board.
The petitioner participated in the TET examination
2014 in the reserved category. Being successful in the
said examination, the petitioner was appointed on
temporary basis by the North 24 Parganas District
Primary School Council by an Office Memorandum
dated 5th February, 2017.
The appointment of the petitioner was thereafter
withdrawn and cancelled by a memo of the Chairman,
District Primary School Council, North 24- Parganas
dated 17th February, 2017 on the ground that the
Scheduled Tribe Certificate relied upon by the petitioner
was issued by the State of Jharkhand and the said
certificate was not received in the revised form by the
State of West Bengal.
2
After getting the order of cancellation of the letter
of appointment, the petitioner applied for obtaining the
caste certificate in the State of West Bengal. The
Caste/Tribe certificate was issued in favour of the
petitioner on 29th December, 2020.
The petitioner submits that as the Tribe in which
the petitioner belongs is enlisted in the reserved
category both in the State of Jharkhand as well as in
the State of West Bengal, the District Primary School
Council ought to revoke the said order of cancellation of
the letter of appointment and issue fresh appointment
letter in her favour relying upon the Caste/Tribe
certificate issued in her favour by the State of West
Bengal.
The petitioner contends that the certificate was
received by her long after the application was made for
issuance of the same and she was no way responsible
for the delay in issuance of the said certificate.
The petitioner relies upon judgments passed by the
Hon'ble Supreme Court as well as by this Court in
support of her case.
The learned advocate appearing for the
respondents opposes the prayer of the petitioner. It has
been submitted that the petitioner ought to have
produced a proper caste certificate which was valid on
the date the interview/scrutiny/verification of
documents. The petitioner applied for the caste
certificate long after her letter of appointment stood
cancelled. The petitioner filed the writ application after
obtaining the caste certificate in December 2020.
I have heard the submissions made on behalf of
both the parties.
The petitioner appeared in the TET examination in
2014 relying upon a caste certificate issued by a
different State. The petitioner was successful in the TET
examination and was issued a letter of appointment by
the Primary School Council in the year 2017. The
petitioner intended to avail the benefit of reservation.
For the said purpose she ought to have possessed a
valid caste certificate issued by the competent authority
of the State where she sought for employment.
Admittedly, the petitioner did not have a valid
caste certificate on the day she was called for interview.
After her appointment stood cancelled in February
2017, the petitioner applied for obtaining the certificate
in her favour.
It is not the case of the petitioner that the
application for obtaining the caste certificate in this
State was made prior to the scrutiny/verification of
documents. Had it been a case that the application was
made earlier and the certificate was issued after the
date of verification then the matter would have been
otherwise. It is not a simpliciter case of late submission
of the caste certificate.
It appears that the said certificate was issued in
December 2020. Thereafter, the petitioner waited for
ten more months and filed the instant writ application
in October 2021 praying for revoking/withdrawing the
letter of cancellation of her appointment and to issue
appointment letter in her favour.
It is true that the caste of a person remains the
same from the date of his/her birth, but for the
purpose of availing the benefit of reservation a
candidate ought to produce a valid caste certificate on
the day the documents are verified by the authorities or
immediately thereafter.
The authorities are neither obliged nor required to
keep the post vacant for an infinite period till a
candidate produces a valid caste certificate to avail the
benefit of reservation. In that event the recruitment
process has to be kept pending for an unending period
of time which is not permissible in law.
The caste certificate is required only for the
purpose of scrutiny and verification and for affirmation
of the fact whether the candidate falls within the
reserved category. Without a valid certificate the
authority will not be in a position to extend the benefit
of reservation to a candidate.
In the instant case, the petitioner did not possess
a valid caste certificate on the day she appeared in the
examination or on the day the documents were verified
by the authority.
The caste certificate was issued in her favour by
the competent authority of this State more than three
years after her letter of appointment stood cancelled.
The petitioner cannot avail the benefit of the said
certificate as the same was issued long after her
appointment letter was withdrawn and cancelled.
The relief sought for by the petitioner cannot be
granted at such a delayed date.
The writ petition fails and is hereby dismissed.
The connected application is also dismissed.
Urgent photostat certified copy of this order be
supplied to the parties, if applied for, as early as
possible.
( Amrita Sinha, J.)
