West Bengal Board Of Primary ... vs Dulal Sk. & Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 4526 Cal

28.07.2023
 SL No.18
Court No.8
    (gc)


                          MAT 1362 of 2023
                           CAN 1 of 2023

             West Bengal Board of Primary Education
                               Vs.
                        Dulal Sk. & Ors.


                           Mr. L.K. Gupta, Sr. Adv.,
                           Mr. Saikat Banerjee,
                           Mr. Ratul Biswas,
                           Mr. Kaushik Chowdhury,
                                    ...for the Appellant/W.B.B.P.E.
                           Mr. Samim Ahammed,
                           Mr. Sudipta Dasgupta,
                           Mr. Bikram Banerjee,
                           Ms. Ambiya Khatun,
                           Ms. Gulsanwara Pervin,
                           Mr. Sagar Dey,
                           Ms. Shalini Ghosh,
                                        ...for the Respondent No.1/

Writ petitioner.

Mr. Supriyo Chattopadhyay, A.G.P., Mr. Gaourav Das, ...for the State.

We have heard Mr. L.K. Gupta, learned Senior

Advocate on behalf of the appellant and Mr. Bikram

Banerjee, learned Advocate for the writ

petitioner/respondent No.1.

The appeal is arising out of an order dated

30th June, 2023 in which the learned Single Judge

considering the report filed by the Deputy Secretary

of the Board dated 28th June, 2023 directed the

Board not to close the 2022 recruitment process. It

appears that the writ petitioner was declared

unsuccessful because of the wrong key answer. If

he were awarded six marks at the relevant time, he

could have qualified for the recruitment process,

2016 and would have been in the panel as a trained

candidate. The writ petition was pending from 2017

and came up for consideration amongst other dates

on 18th May, 2023. On 18th May, 2023, the learned

Single Judge recorded that after the judgment and

order passed in MAT 1594 of 2018, he would be

entitled to get six marks further and, therefore, he

would be a qualified candidate for getting the job.

On such consideration, the Deputy Secretary of the

West Bengal Board of Primary Education was

directed to give a hearing to the writ petitioner and

pass a reasoned order. The reasoned order was

placed before the learned Single Judge on 30th June,

2023. On consideration of the said order the

learned Single Judge has passed an order directing

the Board not to close the 2022 recruitment

process.

We, prima facie, accept the submission made

on behalf of the Board that the order passed by the

Coordinate Bench on 13th April, 2023 shall not,

however, affect the steps taken so far by the Board

or already in the process of being taken by the

Board in respect of TET, 2014. Insofar as the TET,

2014 is concerned, the immediate recruitment

process commenced in the year 2016 and within few

years, the said panel was exhausted. Thereafter,

the recruitment process for 2020 and 2022 had

commenced.

We do not find any clear indication from the

impugned order as to what steps were taken by the

Board till the date of pronouncement of the

judgment or already in the process of being taken by

the Board in respect of TET, 2014. The Board is

required to file an affidavit before the learned Single

Judge within two weeks from date indicating the

aforesaid aspect of the matter as it appears, prima

facie, that the action of the Board has been

protected in the aforesaid two situations although it

might adversely affect a candidate.

We are of the view that the learned Single

Judge before passing any order with regard to

restraining the Board from closing the 2022

recruitment process shall take into consideration

the affidavit to be filed by the Board and decide the

matter in the light of the observations made by the

Hon'ble Division Bench on April 13, 2023.

The claim for appointment against the

recruitment process of 2016 or for the subsequent

period would be dependent upon the situation to be

disclosed by the Board in the affidavit to be filed and

only thereafter a decision to that effect could be

taken upon taking into consideration the order

passed by the Hon'ble Division Bench on April 13,

2023. However, for the time being the candidature

may be processed. Any direction to the writ

petitioner to get an appointment would be

premature as we are not aware whether he was

successful in the process of selection. This also

depends upon the steps already taken by the Board

so far or already in the process of being taken by the

Board in respect of TET, 2014 as on 13th April, 2023

which is a matter to be taken into consideration by

the learned Single Judge in deciding the claim of the

writ petitioner.

The learned Counsel for the parties have

jointly submitted that the learned Single Judge has

orally clarified yesterday in another identical writ

petition that the Board can publish the panel of

11,000 vacancies.

In view of such submission, the Board shall

be at liberty to publish the panel of 11,000

candidates and any further steps in the matter

beyond the aforesaid vacancies, shall abide by the

result of the writ petition.

The affidavit before the learned Single Judge

shall be filed within two weeks from date.

It is needless to mention that if the writ

petitioner applied and had been declared successful

he may be accommodated within these 11,000

vacancies.

Since no affidavits are called for, all

allegations are deemed to have been denied.

The order of the learned Single Judge is

modified to the aforesaid extent.

With the aforesaid observation, the appeal

and the application stand disposed of.

However, there shall be no order as to costs.

Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if

applied for, be given to the parties on usual

undertaking.

(Uday Kumar, J.)                    (Soumen Sen, J.)