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IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side Present :- Hon’ble Justice Rishad Medora WPA 31497 of 2026 Sambhu Charan Bera Vs.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

For the writ petitioner :- Mr. Imtiaz Uddin, Mr. Anindya Sundar Das, Ms. Shabnam Yeasmin, Ms. Madhurima Dutta.

For the WBBPE :- Mr. Subir Sanyal, ld. Sr. adv., Mr. Ratul Biswas, Mr. Sanshik Chowdhury.

For the State :- Ms. Aparna Banerjee, ld. AGP., Mr. Sukanta Ghosh, Ms. Tanushree Ghosh.

Heard on :- 30.10.2026 Judgment on :- 30.10.2026 Rishad Medora, J.:-

1. Affidavit-of-service filed by the petitioner, in Court today, is taken on record.

2. The petitioner has filed the present writ petition praying for, inter alia, a writ commanding the concerned respondents to forthwith permit the petitioner to submit his application for recruitment to the post of Assistant Teacher in Primary Schools pursuant to Notification No. 2141/WBBPE/2025/59R-09/2024 dated 25th September, 2025 and Notification Memo No. 2367/WBBPE/2025/59R-09/2024 dated 19th November, 2025 by enabling access to the online portal for the petitioner or by accepting his application in physical form.

3. Learned advocate appearing for the petitioner submits that his client is a citizen of India and belongs to other backward classes (OBC) category.

4. Learned advocate for the petitioner further submits that the petitioner is a TET-qualified OBC candidate. The petitioner appeared in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) held on December 11, 2022, the results whereof were declared on November 10, 2023 and his client was declared qualified.

5. By the aforesaid notification dated September 25, 2025 followed by the aforesaid notification dated November 19, 2025, the West Bengal Board of Primary Education invited online applications from eligible candidate for recruitment of 13,421 vacant posts of Assistant Teachers in Government Aided Primary/Government Sponsored Primary/Junior Basic Schools in all districts of the State in accordance with the West Bengal Primary School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016.

6. He submits that the concerned application form was available only on the Board’s website from 03:00 p.m. on November 19, 2025 till 11:59 p.m. on December 9, 2025.

7. He further submits that the said notification was only published online and in view of the fact that the petitioner resides in a rural village of Purba Medinipur, the petitioner did not come across it while the application window was open and came to know of it only after the last date for submission had expired. Accordingly, the petitioner could not submit his application within the stipulated period and his client came to know of such notification only on October 27, 2026.

8. Learned advocate appearing for the petitioner relies on a notification dated October 14, 2026 issued by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education and submits that the same will show that the recruitment process is still at the stage of applications and corrections of particulars and itself contemplates counselling and document verification at a later stage.

9. He further submits that the board has reopened the portal to enable applicants to modify their particulars and such portal is open till October 31, 2026.

10. Accordingly, he prays for an order permitting the petitioner to submit his application for recruitment to the post of Assistant Teacher in Primary Schools under the aforesaid notifications by enabling access to the online portal for the petitioner or by accepting his application in physical form.

11. Learned advocate representing the West Bengal Board of Primary Education strongly opposes the contentions and submissions made by the learned advocate appearing for the petitioner.

12. He submits that the petitioner had failed to file his application within the prescribed period of time.

13. He submits that it is not true that the application form was available only on the Board’s website or that intimation for inviting applications