Kolkata, Oct. 1 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the West Bengal government's response to a challenge against a Calcutta High Court ruling invalidating OBC certificates issued during 2025-26, with the dispute affecting the ongoing police recruitment process.
The court declined to keep the posts vacant, but ordered that appointments made meanwhile would be subject to the outcome of the case. The condition must be stated in the appointment letters of the new recruits, the court said.
The plea was filed by five candidates who participated in the 2024 recruitment for 11,749 West Bengal Police constable posts.
They said they had been treated as OBC-A or OBC-B candidates throughout the selection process and their certificates had been accepted.
The candidates challenged the reduction of OBC reservation from 17 per cent to 7 per cent while results were being processed following the High Court's August 12 ruling. The recruitment had earmarked 1998 posts for OBC candidates.
They argued that the application process had closed on April 5, 2024, before the High Court's May 2024 judgment striking down the inclusion of several communities in the OBC list.
Subsequent changes, they contended, could not retrospectively alter the terms of the recruitment.
Three petitioners also claimed they were above the general upper-age limit and could apply only because of the three-year relaxation available to OBC candidates.
The plea questioned the HC ruling, saying the petitioners were neither parties to the case nor heard before their certificates were invalidated.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.