Barun Kumar Maity v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

S/L 9 02.01.2023 Court. No. 19 GB W.P.A. 20393 of 2022 Barun Kumar Maity VS The Secretary, School Education Department Government of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. T.K. Har, Mr. Sudip Kr. Chakraborty.

... for the Petitioner.

The writ petition does not disclose any cause of action. The petitioner alleges that in 2014 a notification was published by the office of the Project Director, Cooked MidDay Meal Project for engagement of Data Entry Operators in different offices of Cooked Mid-Day Meal programmes. On the basis of a notification bearing Memo No.542 dated March 13, 2020, the petitioner applied for the said post.

The Block Development Officer, Kharagpur-I Development Block found the petitioner eligible to sit for the selection test. The said selection process and the notice inviting application bearing no.542 dated March 13, 2020, was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. Again on July 7, 2022 another notification bearing Memo no.1067 was issued by the Block Development Officer, Kharagpur-I Development Block inviting applications for the post of Mid-Day Meal Data Entry Operators. The upper age limit was fixed at 37 years. The upper age limit was extended upto 40 years of age by another corrigendum dated July 19, 2022. The petitioner is now aged 38 years and was well within the prescribed age limit.

It is alleged that on August 10, 2022 similarly situated persons like the petitioner had been asked to appear at the written test, but the petitioner did not receive such letter. The grievance of the petitioner is that he had been illegally left out of the zone of consideration, by the authorities. The allegation is that the authorities allowed the other persons who had applied pursuant to the notification dated July 7, 2022 to participate at the written test.

The petitioner has not been able to satisfy the Court whether at all he had applied for the post of Mid-Day Meal Data Entry Operator pursuant to the Memo No.1067 dated July 7, 2022 read with corrigendum dated July 19, 2022. The writ petition is disposed of with a direction upon the Block Development Officer, Kharagpur-I Development Block to intimate the petitioner whether any written test had been held pursuant to the Memo No.1067 dated July 7, 2022, and if held, why the petitioner was not asked to appear at the written test. The court has not gone into the merits of the allegations.

A copy of the writ petition along with a server copy of this order be served upon the Block Development Officer, Kharagpur-I Development Block.

Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of. However, there will be no order as to costs.

All the parties are directed to act on the basis of the server copy of this order.

(Shampa Sarkar, J.)