"Candidates Getting Frustrated": Calcutta HC Suggests Conducting Pending Interviews For 2022 Civil Judge Recruitment By HC Judges As One-Time Measure

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday suggested Advocate General Kishore Datta to look into the possibility of the High Court conducting pending interviews for candidates who participated in the WB Civil Judge's recruitment 2022 but had not yet been called for their viva.

A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya observed that the Public Service Commission (PSC) Chairperson was finding it difficult to organise the interviews and that as a one-time measure, the High Court to aid in conducting the interviews to alleviate the anxiety of the applicants.

It said: "There is a process of police verification required to be done by the State. Even in Madras HC there was a similar situation and then CJ Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had directed for a similar one-time measure. AG can obtain instructions as to when you will be able to fill vacancies. The office-bearers can't do anything, because several recruitments are been put on hold."

"This is not to divest the powers of the PSC, but purely a one-time measure because candidates waiting for the viva are getting frustrated. Lot of them are practising here. From 2022 onwards, age is catching up. By the time everything is done, they complete training, some may get age bar before the next promotion," it added.

Accordingly, the Court directed the AG to take instruction on the aforesaid points, and the AG submitted that he would bring the same by Monday.