31.08.2026 25 sdas WPA 22277 of 2026 Anita Ghosh Vs. State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Samim Ahammed Mr. Arka Mitra Ms. Gulsanwara Pervin .….. for the petitioner Mr. Pulakesh Bajpayee Mr. Subit Majumdar ……for the State 1. Let affidavit-of-service, as filed in Court, be kept on record. 2. The petitioner is aggrieved that she has not been treated as Economically Weaker Section (EWS) candidate. 3. The relevant consideration, as agreed by Mr. Ahammed, learned Advocate appearing for the petitioner and Mr. Bajpayee, learned Advocate appearing for the respondents, is two phrases contained in advertisement for the post of Constable in the West Bengal Police, 2024. These two phrases entailed in Clause 3(b) are “valid for the year 2023-24 or onwards” and “issued for the financial year 2022- 23 or onwards”. 4. The testimonials required of a EWS candidate and other certificates corresponding to the aforestated periods. The period is either income and asset 2 certificates of the candidate valid for the year 2023-24 or onwards or issued for the financial year 2022-23 or onwards. 5. In the present case, the petitioner’s certificate clearly states that it is valid for the year 2022-23 and for the financial year 2021-22. 6. Clearly the certificates relied upon by the petitioner and/or deposited by her as testimonials of her status as an EWS candidate do not conform to the particulars specified in Clause 3(b) of the advertisement. The petitioner may or may not have the requisite certificate for a period subsequent thereto, the same loses relevance, since the same cannot be deposited by the petitioner as a testimonial on the date of her interview. 7. Thus, limiting the investigation for the present purpose to the certificate submitted by her at the time of her interview, the same clearly does not fall within the validity period or the financial year as specified in the advertisement. 8. The petitioner has, therefore, been treated as an unreserved candidate and rightly so as she does not qualify as a EWS candidate without the appropriate testimonial. 9. The petitioner will be entitled to be considered as an unreserved candidate, which is, as informed by Mr. Bajpayee, she is being considered. 3 10. It is obvious and needless to mention that filing of the writ petition will not prejudice the petitioner’s rights for being considered as an unreserved candidate. 11. With the aforestated directions, the writ petition is disposed of. 12. There will be no order as to costs. 13. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of all requisite formalities. (Reetobroto Kumar Mitra, J.)