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State of West Bengal & Anr. v. Basudev Das & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 1167Decided 4 Dec 2017
Civil Appeal Nos. 20835-20836 of 2017
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Amitava Roy

Background

The dispute concerned selection and appointment of Sub-Inspectors in West Bengal through the Limited Departmental Competitive Examination route. Some candidates approached the Administrative Tribunal alleging height-based discrimination, and the Tribunal set aside the entire selection process. The State's challenge to this before the Calcutta High Court failed to get a stay, so the State approached the Supreme Court, which had already stayed both the Tribunal's and the High Court's orders in February 2017 pending final hearing.

Decision Breakdown

Rather than deciding the merits of the selection dispute itself, the Supreme Court disposed of the appeals with a direction to the High Court to decide the underlying writ petition (W.P.S.T. No. 52 of 2016) expeditiously, preferably within six months. The interim stay already granted by the Supreme Court was ordered to continue until the High Court's writ petition is finally disposed of. The Court declined to pass any order on a pending impleadment application, leaving the applicant(s) free to seek impleadment directly before the High Court.

Lesson Learnt

When a recruitment dispute is already pending final adjudication before a High Court, the Supreme Court can keep an interim protective order alive while directing time-bound disposal below, rather than deciding the underlying merits itself.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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