Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Garden Reach Peace Movement vs The State Of West Bengal And Others on 27 June, 2022
June 27, 2022
ADSL 1
Court No.1
SG
WPA(P) 281 of 2022
Garden Reach Peace Movement
vs.
The State of West Bengal and others
Mr. A. Farmania, Advocate
... for the petitioner
Mr. S.N. Mookherjee, ld. AG
Mr. Samrat Sen, ld. AAAG
Mr. Anirban Ray, ld. GP
Mr. Nilotpal Chatterjee,
Mr. Rajat Dutta, Advocates
... for the State
By this public interest petition, the petitioner, who is
stated to be a non-political organisation, has raised the
grievance that in the public notification dated 27.05.2022
for recruitment to the post of constables and lady
constables in Kolkata Police, the question papers are to
be provided only in two languages i.e Bengali and Nepali.
The grievance of the petitioner is that since the
question papers have not been provided in English
language, therefore there is discrimination and violation
of fundamental right.
Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has
referred to clause V(A) as also clause VI of the public
notice which provides that the question papers for
preliminary written test and final written test will be
provided in two languages i.e. Bengali and Nepali. His
submission is that in the earlier recruitment test in the
year 2019, there was a provision for providing the
question papers in three languages, hence, the English
language could not have been excluded this year. In
WPA(P) 281 of 2022
support of his submission, he has placed reliance upon
paragraph 17 of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme
Court in the matter of Principal, Mehar Chand Polytechnic
and another vs Anu Lamba and others reported in (2006)
7 SCC 161.
Learned Advocate General appearing for the State
has opposed the petition, by questioning the locus of the
petitioner and by submitting that there is no fundamental
right to demand the question paper in a particular
language. He has also pointed out that the last date of
submission of the application was 27.06.2022 and that
the petitioner has approached this Court belatedly
without proper explanation. He has also submitted that
the public notice in question provides for question papers
in Bengali and Nepali languages on the basis of the
Kolkata Police (Recruitment of Constables and Lady
Constables) Rules, 2022 in West Bengal Official Language
Act, 1961. He has also placed reliance on a Division
Bench judgment of Allahabad High Court in the matter of
U.P. Urdu Development Organisation and another vs State
of UP and another reported in 2002 SCC OnLine All 1182.
Having heard learned counsel for the parties and on
perusal of the record, it is noticed that learned counsel
for the petitioner could not point out that the candidates
have fundamental right to demand the question papers in
a particular language.
Considering the similar issue in the matter of U.P.
Urdu Development Organisation (Supra) wherein the cause
WPA(P) 281 of 2022
of Urdu language was espoused by the petitioner, it has
been held by the Division Bench of Allahabad High Court
that the petitioner had no fundamental right to insist
upon the question papers to be provided in a particular
language. That apart, learned Advocate General has
pointed out Section 2 of the West Bengal Official
Language Act, 1961 relating to language to be used for
official purpose of the State which provides that in 3 hill
sub-divisions of the districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and
Kurseong, Bengali and Nepali languages and elsewhere
the Bengali language shall be the official language of the
State of West Bengal as referred to in Article 345 of the
Constitution of India. The Proviso of Section 2 of the Act
of 1961 states about the use of the English language in
the examination conducted by the Public Service
Commission, West Bengal. He has also produced a copy
of the Kolkata Police (Recruitment of Constables and Lady
Constables) Rules, 2022 and has pointed out that the
recruitment process has been undertaken in terms of
Rules and Rule 4(d) concerning the eligibility and relating
to the language reads as under:
"(d) Language:
(i) The applicant must be able to speak,
read and write Bengali Language,
provided that the provision will not be
applicable to the persons who are
permanent residents of hill sub-
WPA(P) 281 of 2022
divisions of Darjeeling and Kalimpong
Districts.
(ii) For the applicant of hill sub-divisions
of Darjeeling and Kalimpong Districts,
the provisions as laid down in the West
Bengal Official Language Act, 1961
(West Ben. Act XXIV of 1961) shall be
applicable."
The constitutional validity of above rule has not been
challenged in this petition.
He has also pointed out that the examinations in
similar manner in local languages are conducted in other
states i.e. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat etc.
We also notice that if any candidate has grievance
regarding the question papers being set in Nepali and
Bengali languages, then the candidate concerned can
very well approach the Court raising the grievance about
discrimination but present petition is not at the instance
of any candidate. That apart, it is the settled position in
law that in service matters, PIL cannot be maintained.
Hence, in the aforesaid circumstances, we find no
reason to interfere in the present petition.
Accordingly, the present petition is dismissed.
[Prakash Shrivastava, C.J.]
[Rajarshi Bharadwaj, J.]
