Balaram Maiti (in-Person) v. the State of West Bengal and Ors.
Teacher recruitment – 11th RLST, 2010 (Assistant Teacher) – panel notified 22nd March, 2011, valid one year, expired 2012
Case brief
What is this about?
Dismissal of 2025 writ petition (filed in person) challenging 11th RLST 2010 Assistant Teacher panel excluding petitioner, thirteen years after panel expiry; delay and laches; reasonable-time rule from Shiv Dass v. Union of India (2007) 9 SCC 274; right to challenge selection extinguished on panel expiry per Harish Chandra (1996) 9 SCC 309 and Girdhar Kumar Dadhich (2009) 2 SCC 706; West Bengal school service commission recruitment; Limitation Act provisions invoked by petitioner; no relief at belated stage.
What did the court decide?
Even accepting the petitioner's two-year explanation of mental ill-health, the petitioner was required to offer an explanation for the delay from 2014 onwards in approaching the Court regarding a selection process conducted in 2010-11, having filed the writ petition thirteen years after the panel expired in 2012; per Shiv Dass, a litigant must come within reasonable time (about three years).