Dr. Debabrata Pulai Vs State of West Bengal and Ors. — Calcutta HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Dr. Debabrata Pulai Vs State of West Bengal and Ors. — Calcutta HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Petitioner's resignation prayer dated 31.01.2025 stands accepted (with effect from 31.01.2025) subject to integrity clearance from the State Vigilance Commission, West Bengal and clearance from the Vigilance Branch, Health and Family Welfare Department; authorities directed to complete the clearance exercise preferably within four weeks from receipt/production of the order; O.A. 492 of 2025 before the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal disposed of.

Issue for consideration

Whether the non-acceptance of the petitioner's application for resignation could be sustained. +1 more

Court's answer

There is no dispute between the parties that the Competent Authority has already decided to accept the petitioner's resignation prayer dated 31.01.2025 (effective 31.01.2025), subject to vigilance clearances; the Court finds the State's stand acceptable and holds the relief claimed in the proceeding to be substantially infructuous.

Ratio / Principle

The time limit of 3 to 4 months indicated by the authority for obtaining the requisite clearances manifests a casual approach of the respondents; the expected time is unreasonable/excessive.

Key takeaways

The authority was directed to move expeditiously for obtaining the clearances in terms of the communication dated 08.01.2026 and to make all endeavours to complete the exercise preferably within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt/production of the order.ratio¶16
With the relief substantially allowed, O.A. 492 of 2025 before the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal was disposed of, the parties being ad idem that its pendency would be futile and serve no useful purpose.ratio¶19

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Writ petition (W.P.S.T.205 of 2025, decided 19th January, 2026) by Dr. Debabrata Pulai, Assistant Professor, Department of General Medicine, Midnapore Medical College, Paschim Medinipur, complaining of non-acceptance of his application for resignation. During hearing, the State handed over a communication dated 08.01.2026 (Memo No.ME/CC-12-2025/M/43) issued under the signature of the Director of Medical Education, West Bengal, recording that the Competent Authority in the Health & Family Welfare Department had already decided to accept the resignation prayer dated 31.01.2025 with effect from 31.01.2025, subject only to integrity clearance from the State Vigilance Commission, West Bengal and similar clearance from the Vigilance Branch, Health and Family Welfare Department, with necessary action stated to be under way. Holding the relief substantially infructuous and finding the indicated timeline of 3 to 4 months for the clearances to be unreasonable/excessive and manifesting a casual approach, the Court (Madhuresh Prasad and Prasenjit Biswas, JJ.) directed the authority to move expeditiously and complete the clearance exercise preferably within four weeks from receipt/production of the order. The writ petition was disposed of, and pending O.A. 492 of 2025 before the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal was also disposed of as futile.

19^th January, 2026 (D/L No.33) Ct. No.4 (SKB)

W.P.S.T.205 of 2025

Dr. Debabrata Pulai Versus The State of West Bengal and others

Mr. Sankha Ghosh, Mr. M. N. Roy, Mr. G. Haldar

… for the petitioner.

Mr. Swapan Kumar Dutta, ld. GP, Mr. Rajat Dutta

… for the State.

The substantial claim of the petitioner in this proceeding is regarding non-acceptance of his application for resignation.

The learned advocate for the State has handed over to the court a copy of communication dated 08.01.2026 sent to him. The communication issued under the signature of the Director of Medical Education, West Bengal bearing Memo No.ME/CC-12-2025/M/43 contains instruction that the Competent Authority in the department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, has already decided to accept the resignation prayer dated 31.01.2025 of the petitioner serving as an Assistant Professor in

the Department of General Medicine, Midnapore Medical College, Paschim Medinipur. The same

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has been accepted with effect from 31.01.2025 but is now subject only to obtaining integrity clearance from the State Vigilance Commission, West Bengal and similar clearance to be issued by the Vigilance Branch, Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of West Bengal. The letter in unequivocal terms states that necessary action for obtaining the vigilance clearance is being taken.

To this extent, there is no dispute between the parties and we also find that the stand to be acceptable. The relief claimed in the proceeding is, therefore, substantially infructuous. However, we find that the authority has expressed that it may take 3 to 4 months for obtaining the above noted requisite clearance. The letter does not specify why it will take such a long time. The time limit specified therefore appears to be manifesting a casual approach of the respondents. We find the expected time (3 to 4 months) to be unreasonable/excessive.

We, therefore, consider it appropriate that the authority should move expeditiously for obtaining the clearance in terms of the communication dated 08.01.2026 and make all endeavours to complete the exercise preferably

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within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt/production of this order.

The writ petition is, therefore, disposed of.

The relief being substantially allowed, there is no dispute between the parties that pendency of O.A. 492 of 2025 before the

West Bengal Administrative Tribunal would be futile and serve no useful purpose. The O.A.492 of 2025 has also been disposed of.

(Madhuresh Prasad, J.)

(Prasenjit Biswas, J.)