SOUMI DAS Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petitioners before this Court are serving as nurses in government hospitals and seek to be placed in the Trainee Reserve category in colleges offering Post-graduate and graduate degree courses. A "Trainee Reserve " seat is a coveted post since the Trainee Reserve gets full pay from the Government and is not required to take leave from service for the duration of the course. In the present case, the petitioners have applied for Post Basic B.Sc. (Nursing) courses as Trainee Reserve candidates. The writ petitioners approached this Court being aggrieved by a notice cancelling a provisional eligibility list dtd. 23/11/2021 and the revised scores and ranks which were made available on the website of the Board on 3/12/2021. The writ petitioners challenged the unilateral cancellation of the list published on 9/11/2021 and the consequential change of marks and rank in the revised Rank Card without notice to the petitioners.

(2.) The affidavit of the Board indicates that the Answer Keys sent by the West Bengal University of Health Sciences were not separated in two separate parts and that the Board decided to issue the notice dtd. 23/11/2021 cancelling the provisional list pursuant to considering the requests of candidates who had personally approached the Board on 18/11/2021. The affidavit seeks to absolve the Board of any error or latches and puts the blame on the West Bengal University of Health Sciences. The Board also says that the writ petition suffers from misjoinder and non-joinder of necessary parties since the West Bengal University of Health Sciences has not been made a party to the Writ Petition. It is also the stated position of the Board that the petitioners cannot challenge the first round of counselling after having participated in the same.

(3.) The affidavit of the State contains a statement that a technical error took place at the time of evaluation of the OMR sheets. The position of the State respondent is also that the State was compelled to cancel the provisional list on 23/11/2021 since the Board cancelled the merit list.