Days after interim stay, contempt plea in HC over ‘OBC list' in college portal
The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed a contempt petition to be filed against the West Bengal government for allegedly violating the stay on the interim Other Backward Classes (OBC) list in undergraduate college admissions in the state.
Petitioner Purabi Das approached the Division Bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Ritobrata Kumar Mitra, alleging that despite the High Court's interim stay on the new OBC list, the state-run college admission portal continues to display reservation under the OBC-A and OBC-B categories.
'We stated that in the recent college admissions portal, the Tuesday's order of the High Court is not being followed. Thus, it is a contempt of court. We have made the chief secretary and secretary, Education Department, a party in the matter,' counsel Bikram Banerjee said.
On Wednesday, the college admission process for undergraduates began through the government's centralised portal for over nine lakh seats across 7,229 undergraduate courses in 460 state and state-aided colleges.
A day earlier, at the launch of the portal, State Education Minister Bratya Basu had said the interim stay on the new OBC list would not affect the admission process.
'Should agricultural work stop because of predictions of drought or heavy rain? We will continue our work. If there is any instruction, we will take emergency measures,' the minister had said.
On Tuesday, the Division bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajasekhar Mantha, while putting a stay on reservations to 140 subsections under OBC-A and OBC-B categories till July 31, had said that OBC certificates issued before 2010 under the 1993 law would remain valid for employment and education.
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