Uma Das (Kayal) vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 2485 Cal

12.04.2023           IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
   DL-209            CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION
   (PP)                   APPELLATE SIDE
                            CAN 4 of 2023
                                 in
                           WPA 7155 of 2020

                           Uma Das (Kayal)
                                 Vs.
                     The State of West Bengal & Ors.

                   Mr. Suddhasatwa Banerjee,
                   Mr. Supratic Roy
                                           ....for the applicants.

                   Mr. Lakshminath Bhattacharya
                                      ....for the writ petitioner.
                   Mr. Raja Saha,
                   Ms. Tanusri Chanda
                                               ....for the State.


                          In Re: CAN 4 of 2023


                   The private respondents in WPA 7155 of 2020

have filed the instant application for vacating and/or

discharging and/or setting aside of the order dated

November 20, 2020.

By an order dated November 20, 2020, a

Coordinate Bench of this Hon'ble Court held that it

was not passing any interim order on the assurance

given by the learned counsel for the State that till the

next date of hearing no further steps would be taken

in the matter of giving appointment to Anganwadi

Helpers (AWH) who participated in a selection process

held pursuant to an advertisement issued on March

23, 2018. The Coordinate Bench directed the

affidavit-in-opposition by the State to be filed within 2

weeks from the date of the order.

This Court finds that an affidavit-in-opposition

has been affirmed to the main writ petition sometime

in June, 2022 that is almost one and a half years

after passing of the order dated November 20, 2020.

After giving the undertaking, the State instead of

filing the affidavit-in-opposition within 2 weeks took

more than one and a half years to affirm the same.

Mr. Banerjee, learned counsel appearing on

behalf of the private respondents/applicants submits

that at best the writ petitioner could claim her right to

one seat and cannot stall the entire process of

appointment to the post of AWH on the basis of an

undertaking given by the State.

Mr. Bhattacharya, learned counsel appearing on

behalf of the writ petitioner submits that since the

affidavit-in-opposition has been filed way beyond the

time stipulated for the same, the same should not be

taken on record.

Ms.Chanda, learned counsel appearing on behalf

of the State-respondents.

This Court finds that no application for vacating

and/or discharging the order dated November 20,

2020 was made by the State-respondents. In the writ

petition, the petitioner has not only challenged the

appointment of the private respondents but also has

challenged the entire selection process for

appointment of AWH in Joynagar-I Block, South 24-

Parganas.

Since the entirety of the selection process has

been challenged, this Court has to examine whether

there was a large scale malpractice in the preparation

of panel of the select list of candidates for

appointment of AWH in the block concerned. In the

event the appointments are given on the basis of the

select list of candidates, it may cause an equity in

their favour. Therefore, the writ petition will be

rendered infructuous in the event appointments are

given in the posts of AWH.

The view of this Court finds support in a

judgment of the Apex Court reported in (2021) 4 SCC

631 (Sachin Kumar and others vs. Delhi

Subordinate Service Selection Board and others).

In such view of the matter, this Court is not

willing to modify and/or vacate the order dated

November 20, 2020 passed by the Coordinate Bench.

In the light of the discussions above, CAN 4 of

2023 is dismissed.

This Court finds that despite the affidavit-in-

opposition being served on the writ petitioner no steps

have been taken to file any reply before this Court.

This Court condones the delay in filing of the

affidavit-in-opposition and retains it with the records.

In the event the writ petitioner chooses to file an

affidavit-in-reply to the main writ petition, the same is

permitted to be done by May 18, 2023 upon service of

an advance copy to the other appearing parties.

Let the matter appear for further consideration

under the heading "For Orders" on June 7, 2023.

All parties shall act on the server copies of this

order duly downloaded from the official website of

this Hon'ble Court.

(Lapita Banerji, J.)