Soma Dey & Ors vs State Of West Bengal & Ors

Biswanath Somadder, J

By consent of the parties, the appeal is treated as on day's list and taken up for consideration along with the application for stay.

The instant appeal arises out of a judgment and order dated 1st May, 2019, passed by a learned Single Judge in WP 9327 (W) of 2019 (Soma Dey & Ors. vs. State of West Bengal & Ors.). By the impugned judgment and order, the writ petition stood dismissed for reasons stated therein.

The instant appeal has been preferred by the writ petitioners.

When initially the application for stay was moved, an interim order was passed by an earlier Division Bench on 14th May, 2019. Relevant portion of the order of the earlier Division Bench is quoted hereinbelow:-

"We, accordingly, grant liberty to each of the appellants to approach the respective Child Development Project Officer of the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme under whom they are working with offline applications by Friday next (May 17, 2019) positively.

Apart from personal tender of such offline applications, the appellants shall also be at liberty to submit their respective applications by registered post. However, despatch of the registered envelope must be made by Friday next (May 17, 2019).

Upon receipt of the applications, the Child Development Project Officer(s) shall process the same and if any or all the appellants is/are found to be eligible to participate in the process of selection for promotion, their names together with their applications shall be forwarded to the Public Service Commission, West Bengal for further follow-up action.

It is made clear that presently the Child Development Project Officer(s) shall not reject any application filed by any of the appellants on the ground that they are working in institutions run by NGOs.

The arrangement by way of interim relief, proposed above, shall be strictly without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the parties to this appeal.

The stay application shall be listed once again on Tuesday next (May 21, 2019) for reporting further developments.

Office is directed to place the records of W.P. 9327 (W) of 2019 by the next date."

The records reveal that the reason why the writ petitioners had approached the writ Court was primarily to allow the writ petitioners to appear in the interview along with other candidates for filling up of the post of Supervisor in connection with Employment Notice dated 25th February, 2019, upon acceptance of their applications either by online or offline mode. The reason why the learned Single Judge had proceeded to dismiss the writ petition is clear from the impugned judgment and order dated 1st May, 2019, which is reproduced hereinbelow:-

"Petitioners are appearing in person.

The petitioners have filed the deficit Court Fees of Rs.1400/-.

Copy of the writ petition has not been served upon the respondents.

The petitioners pray for a direction upon the respondents to allow them to file offline applications for filing up the posts of Supervisors pursuant to the notification dated 25th February, 2019 on promotion by selection. According to the said notification, there is no provision for making offline applications.

The petitioners have averred in paragraph 13 of the writ petition that the last date of making application was on 15th April, 2019 and thereafter same was extended till 30th April, 2019.

It appears from paragraph 5 of the writ petition that the date of commencement of submission of online application was 14th March, 2019 and the closing date for submission of online application was 16th April, 2019 upto 12 O'clock midnight. The closing date for submission of fees online was 16th April, 2019 and the closing date for submission of fees through offline application was 17th April, 2019.

From the time schedule that has been set out in paragraphs 5 and 13 of the writ petition it appears that the petitioners have approached this Court at a belated stage. The date of making online application is long over.

There is no scope for passing any order in favour of the petitioners at this stage.

W.P No. 9327 (W) of 2019 stands dismissed."

Even a bare perusal of the impugned judgment and order and the relevant portion of the interim order passed by the earlier Division Bench dated 14th May, 2019, will clearly reveal that the primary reason for the writ petitioners to approach the writ Court has been adequately redressed by the interim order dated 14th May, 2019. We must observe at this stage that we are unable to accept the reasons supplied by the learned Single Judge while proceeding to dismiss the writ petition, being WP 9327 (W) of 2019, on 1st May, 2019 and we are in respectful agreement with the reasons provided by the earlier Division Bench in the interim order dated 14th May, 2019, passed in the instant matter. We are also alive to the fact that while passing the interim order dated 14th May, 2019, the earlier Division had made it clear that the arrangement as proposed by the Court was strictly without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the parties to the appeal.

Since the writ petitioners' grievances have been adequately addressed in terms of the directions as contained in the interim order dated 14th May, 2019, we confirm the same and dispose of the appeal and the application for stay by granting liberty to the respondents to consider and decide upon the fate of the applications filed by the appellants/writ petitioners pursuant to the interim order dated 14th May, 2019, strictly in accordance with law.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this judgment, if applied for, be given to the parties.