22.05.2025 Item No.3 Ali ct. no.24 WPA 10287 of 2025 Manash Barikder Vs.

State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Debabrata Saha Roy, Sr. Adv., Mr. Pingal Bhattacharyya, Mr. Subhankar Das …… for the petitioner.

Mr. Kishore Datta, Ld. A.G., Mr. Biswabrata Basu Mallick, AGP Mr. K.M. Hossain ……for the State.

Present writ petitioner has challenged the vires of Clause 11(v) of West Bengal Targeted Public Distribution System (Maintenance & Control), Order, 2024.

It is the case of the petitioner that the concerned Sub-Divisional Controller, (Food & Supplies) had issued vacancy notifications, wherein the eligible criteria has been incorporated in Part-II amongst the other eligible criteria. The parameters of age limit of individual applicants have been specified that their age must be above 21 years and below 45 years on the date of application. The said eligible criteria followed Clause 11(v) of the Control Order, 2024; for better appreciation of the discussion, let me set out the relevant clause of Control Order, 2024.

“11. Eligibility criteria for application for grant of license for Fair Price Shop. An individual or a registered partnership firm or a registered Co-operative Society or a Self help Gro