Smt. Simi Jana vs The State of West Bengal and Others

Debasish Kar Gupta, J.—Let affidavit-of-service be kept on record. This writ application is filed by the petitioner for a direction upon the District Primary School Council, South 24-Parganas to issue letter of appointment in her favour in the post of primary school teacher in any primary school within its jurisdiction.

According to the petitioner, she appeared in the written test as also in oral test. But her name did not appear in the panel of selected candidates. The panel was published on August 14, 2012. The lifetime of the panel was extended from time to time and it ultimately expired on August 14, 2012. According to the petitioner, her name did not appear in the panel due to procedural impropriety so far as the selection process under reference was concerned. Therefore, according to the petitioner, there was no bar or impediment in filing an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India after expiry of the panel under reference.

It is submitted by Mr. Joytosh Majumder, the learned Senior Government Advocate, on instruction, that lifetime of the panel under reference was expired on August 14, 2012. Therefore this writ application is not maintainable.

The above submissions are supported by the learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the District Primary School Council, South 24-Parganas.

I have heard the learned Counsel appearing for the respective parties carefully and I have given my thoughtful consideration to the facts and circumstances of this case.

Before entering into the merits of this case, the point of maintainability of this writ application is taken up for consideration. In accordance with the provisions of Rule 13 of the West Bengal Primary School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2001, the lifetime of a panel prepared for appointment of primary school teachers expires after a period of one year. However, the validity of such panel may be extended by six weeks at a time and not more than one year in total. The above provisions are quoted below:

Validity of the panel.--Approved panel shall remain valid normally for one year from the date of approval by the Director or his authorised officer provided that the Director or his authorised officer may extend the validity of such panel by six months at a time, but the total period of such extension shall not exceed one year.

No dispute is raised with the regard to the expiry of above panel which was expired on August 14, 2012. It is also not in dispute that this writ application was affirmed on August 27, 2012. Therefore, no relief can be granted to the petitioner in this case.

This writ application is, thus, dismissed. There will be, however, no order as to costs.