Nabanita Jana v. The State Of West Bengal And ORS.

17-09-2025 Item No.29 Subrata Bhattacharyya IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side AR(C) WPA No.16975 of 2025 Nabanita Jana -vsThe State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Chittapriya Ghosh Mr. Goutam Acharya Ms. Priyanka Saha ...for the petitioner Mr. Jaharla Lal De, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Kaustav Bhattacharya ...for the State Mr. Raja Saha Mr. Sanjay Mukherjee Ms. Bahnidipa Roy ...for the Information Commission Ms. Tapati Samanta ...for the respondent no.6 1.

The petitioner seeks for a direction upon the West Bengal Information Commission to dispose of the second appeal preferred by her.

2.

According to the Library Officer, the sixth respondent herein, the information sought for by the petitioner relates to third party information and the same cannot be provided to the petitioner.

3.

It appears that the petitioner participated in the recruitment process for appointment of librarian in sponsored public library in the year 2023. She was not successful in the recruitment process. She intends to know the marks obtained by the other candidates who participated in the same

recruitment process.

4.

The submission on behalf of the Library Officer that the information cannot be provided as the same relates to third party information cannot be accepted by the Court. The recruitment process is over by now.

5.

The petitioner being an unsuccessful candidate may require the information about the marks secured by the other competing candidates so that she can take steps to better her chance, if she appears for the examination in future. She may also require the marks of her competitors to ascertain as to whether the recruitment process was fair or not.

6.

There is hardly any reason for the District Library Officer to conceal information of a recruitment process which has already concluded. The subject recruitment process being a public examination, the authority ought to have provided information as sought for by the petitioner. For maintaining proper transparency and fairness all information about public recruitment process ought to be made available in the public domain to avoid unnecessary litigations.

7.

The Information Commission is, therefore, directed to dispose of the appeal preferred by the petitioner at the earliest without any further delay.

8.

The writ petition stands disposed of.

9.

Instruction forwarded by the District Library Officer dated July 31, 2025 be taken on record. 10.

All parties are to act on the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court.

11.

Certified copy of this order, if applied for, shall be made available to the parties.

[Amrita Sinha, J]