The State must adhere to central guidelines mandating a 50%:50% ratio for filling Supervisor vacancies under ICDS, rejecting any conflicting state rules.

JUDGMENT :

Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, J.

1. Both the appeals, preferred at the behest of the State of West Bengal and its functionaries, arise from a common order dated September 19, 2023, delivered by the learned single Bench in two writ petitions being WPA 6322 of 2024 (Kabita Samanta vs. State of West Bengal & Ors.) and WPA 22212 of 2022 (Papiya Ghoshal (Maity) vs. State of West Bengal & Ors.), which were heard analogously. For having thematic coherence, both appeals were heard together.

2. Prior to venturing to delve into the contentious issue involved in the appeal, it is prudent to outline the key facts that led to these appeals, which are as follows:

a) By a memorandum dated March 7, 2019, bearing No. 1789-SW/O/3E-16/2015, the Joint Secretary to the Government of West Bengal, Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, informed the Director of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) project, West Bengal, and the Controller of Vagrancy, that the Recruitment Rules for the posts of Supervisor under ICDS, along with the proposal for filling the vacancies of 3,376 posts of Supervisor, had been approved by the Cabinet. According to the new Recruitment Rules, 422 posts would be filled by promotion, based on selection (by promotion) from Anganwadi Workers under ICDS and Case Workers under the Controller of Vagrancy. The remaining 2,954 posts would be filled through Direct Recruitment, through a selection process conducted by the Public Service Commission (in short, PSC). Both the Director and the Controller were instructed to compile a list of eligible and willing Anganwadi Workers and Case Workers to participate in the examination for the promotional posts.

b) In pursuit of that objective, a selection process was initiated for the recruitment of 2,954 posts of Supervisor (female-only) under the ICDS, 2019 in the Department of Women and Child Development & Social Welfare, Government of West Bengal. Through an advertisement bearing No. 08 of 2019, applications were invited from eligible candidates for the aforementioned posts.

c) Meanwhile, by a letter dated March 8, 2019, the Director instructed the eligible and willing Anganwadi Workers (in short, AWW) to submit their applications for the posts online by April 15, 2019. In response to the letter dated March 8, 2019, the writ petitioners/respondents, all of whom are Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), offered their candidatures for the post and participated in the examinations held on October 30, 2021, and October 31, 2021.

d) Subsequently, the AWWs filed two separate writ petitions, namely WPA 6322 of 2022 and WPA 22212 of 2022, praying for an order to annul the memorandum dated March 7, 2019. They also prayed for order restraining the respondents from giving effect to the results of the examinations held on October 30, 2021, and October 31, 2021, as well as a stay on the entire recruitment process.

e) The main grievances of the writ petitioners/respondents, as articulated in the two writ petitions, are that the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India, through its memorandum No. 1-2/2014-CD.1 dated 15th September 2015, in supersession of all earlier guidelines, issued new guidelines regarding the filling of vacancies for the post of Supervisor. According to these new guidelines, 50% of the vacancies for the post of Supervisor would be filled by promotion from amongst Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) with at least 10 years of experience as AWWs and the prescribed qualifications, as per the Recruitment Rules for the post of Supervisor. In the event of a shortage of eligible candidates, the vacancies would be filled by direct recruitment. The remaining 50% of the vacancies would be filled through direct recruitment.

f) However, through a memorandum dated 7th March 2019, the Joint Secretary to the Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare stated that, out of a total of 3,376 vacancies for the post of Supervisor, the Cabinet decided to fill 422 p