Chaitali Bhattacharyya v. The State Of West Bengal And ORS.

16.09.2025 d.p.

In The High Court At Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side W.P.A 15589 of 2025 Chaitali Bhattacharyya -versus The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Kiron Sk.

...For the Petitioner.

Mr. Vimal Kumar Shahi, AGP Mr. Manaj Kumar Mondal.

... For the State.

1. The petitioner is serving as the Non-Official Marriage Officer and Non-Official Hindu Marriage Registrar. She is aggrieved by the show cause notice dated 7th July, 2025 issued to her to show cause as to why steps shall not be taken against her under the provisions of West Bengal Special Marriage Rules, 2010 and the West Bengal Hindu Registration Rules, 2010.

2. Learned advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that the reply to the show cause has been given but no steps have been taken to dispose of the same till date.

3. Submission is that the petitioner has been denied access to the portal under which marriages are registered. Prayer has been made to provide access to the petitioner to the said portal.

4. Learned advocate appearing on behalf of the State respondents relies upon the instruction forwarded by the Register General of Marriages West Bengal signed on 16th July, 2025.

5. It appears from the submissions made on behalf of the parties and on perusal of the documents placed before this Court that a show cause notice was issued to the petitioner as she left the station without obtaining proper leave. According to the petitioner, the show cause notice is bad in law.

6.

It is settled law that issuance of a show cause notice does not give rise to any cause of action, far less, any coercive action. It is merely seeking a response from the petitioner as to why penal action shall not be taken against her. The petitioner appears to have given a response to the show cause notice. 7.

The instant writ petition stands disposed of by directing the competent authority to dispose of the response filed by the petitioner strictly in accordance with law, at the earliest but positively within a period of four weeks from the date of communication of this order.

8.

The fate of the response given by the petitioner shall be made known to her without any delay.

9. The writ petition stands disposed of.

10. The instruction by the Registrar General of Marriage West Bengal signed on 16th July, 2025 is taken on record.

11. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of all requisite formalities.

(Amrita Sinha, J.)