Mamata Bouri And ORS v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.
23.03.2022 Sl. No. 14 ss W.P.A. 14689 of 2021 Mamata Bouri & ors.
Vs.
The State of West Bengal & ors.
Mr. Rajdeep Roy Mr. Madhusudan Mandal ... for the petitioners Mr. Jaharlal Dey Mr. Benazir Ahmed ... for the State The petitioners participated in different recruitment processes for the post of Sangha Coordinators as per an advertisement issued by the different Sangha Samities under Raghunathpour-II Block. The interview was held on February 19, 2020. A tabulation sheet has been annexed to the writ petition, which indicates that the petitioners were successful. The petitioners are now aggrieved by the cancellation of the entire process by an order issued on September 18, 2020 by the Additional District Mission Director, District Motion Management Unit, who was also the Project Director, District Rural Development Cell, Purulia.
It appears from the order of cancellation that the authorities had received various allegations with regard to the process of selection of the Sangha Co-ordinators. It was found that rampant discrimination had been made in the process of selection. Therefore, the selection process
had been cancelled and the Block Development Officer was requested to conduct a fresh interview.
The authorities have a right to cancel a selection process in accordance with law. If there are allegations of massive malpractice or illegality in the process, there is no bar under the law, preventing the authorities from cancelling the entire process on the basis of the complaints received and to proceed afresh in accordance with law. The petitioners have alleged that such reasons were not disclosed to the petitioners, although they were successful.
Without going correctness of the allegations of the petitioners and the contents of the tabulation sheet which has been produced before this Court, this Court is of the opinion that the petitioners should be informed the reason as to why the entire process was cancelled and also whether a fresh interview process had been held or was going to be held soon. The writ petition is, thus, disposed of with a direction upon the Additional District Mission Director, District Mission Management Unit cum Project Director, District Rural Development Cell, Purulia to dispose of the representation of the petitioners dated June 21, 2021, in accordance with law and communicate the decision to the petitioners.
It is needless to mention, that if any subsequent interview process is initiated by the competent authorities, the petitioners shall be at liberty to apply for the same, strictly in accordance with law and only if otherwise eligible.
The entire exercise is to be completed within a period of two months from the date of communication of this order. The petitioners are directed to serve a server copy of this order along with the representation upon the concerned authorities.
(Shampa Sarkar, J.)