Supreme Court Stays Calcutta HC Direction To Recast WBJEB Results As Per Pre-2010 OBC Reservation

The Supreme Court today (August 22) stayed the direction of the Calcutta High Court, which ordered the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board to recast the merit list drawn up for the 2025 Joint Entrance Exams, to bring them in conformity with the pre-2010 percentage of OBC reservations. 

The stay order in effect allows the declaration of WBJEE 2025 results in terms of the State's new OBC reservation list notified on June 10, 2025.

The bench of CJI BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran issued notice in the petition filed by the State of West Bengal and directed a stay on the operation of the impugned decision of the High Court. 

The said impugned order was passed after the interim order of the Apex Court on July 28, where the Court kept in abeyance the Calcutta High Court's order, which stayed notifications regarding the new list of Other Backwards Classes (OBCs) in the State of West Bengal.

The state raised the following grounds : (1) The Court overlooked the fact that after the stay order of the Supreme Court, a fresh survey was carried out to collect the social status of individuals seeking the benefit of an OBC certificate. Since all such candidates have uploaded their data on the designated portal, now only those who will possess a valid certificate as per the recent notification would be given the benefit. 

However, " the Impugned Order further failed to consider that none of the cancelled certificates would be taken into consideration for granting admission as per the result of JEMAS(PG) 2025." 

(2) the order was passed without granting any opportunity to the petitioner to be heard; (3) the order has a 'sweeping effect' on all selection process in West Bengal and "will virtually reduce the OBC reservation in the State of West Bengal to 7% from 17%; 

(4) The order is in violation of "Articles 15(5) and 16(4) of the Constitution of India as well as in violation of the directions passed by this Hon'ble Court and (5) the order is in violation of the decision in Indra Sawhney & Others v. Union of India & Others, resultant of which the West Bengal Commission For Backward Classes Act, 1993 was brought in place. The Act includes OBCs in lists as defined under Section 2(c) of the 1993 Act prepared by the Government from time to time, for the purpose of making provision for reservation in favour of backward classes of citizens in the manner laid down in the 1993 Act.

On August 7, the Calcutta High Court bench Justice Kausik Chanda observed in the impugned order :

"This Court is of the unambiguous view that the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board, by preparing and publishing the merit list in this manner, has acted in violation of the order dated May 21, 2025, passed by this Court, in particular, the clause (f) of the operative part of the said order. It must also be noted that the interim order dated July 28, 2025, passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, does not revive or validate the O.B.C.-A and O.B.C.-B certificates that were expressly cancelled by the Division Bench of this Court by its order dated May 22, 2024. That order remains un-stayed. The undisputed position remains that the Joint Entrance Board has allowed O.B.C. candidates to participate in the examination on the basis of such cancelled certificates."

"However, it is beyond doubt that the preparation of the merit list for the Joint Entrance Examination–2025 by the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board has been carried out in clear violation of this Court's clause (f) of the order dated May 21, 2025," he added.

The  High Court passed the following directions:

1. The West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board shall recast the merit list and publish a fresh panel, providing 7% reservation for the 66 classes of O.B.C. candidates as recognized by the West Bengal Backward Classes Department prior to 2010, in terms of the judgment and order dated May 22, 2024, passed by the Division Bench in Amal Chandra Das v. State of West Bengal (supra).

2. This entire exercise shall be completed within a period of 15 days from the date of this order.

3. The affidavits of compliance shall be filed by the Registrar, West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board, and also by an officer not below the rank of Senior Special Secretary, West Bengal Higher Education Department, on the next date of hearing.

4. In view of the pending appeals against the order dated May 21, 2025, no contempt proceedings are initiated at this stage.

5. The Registry shall communicate a copy of this order forthwith to the Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal, who shall, in turn, forward the same to all concerned departments of the State Government for their guidance in respect of all ongoing and upcoming recruitments.

 Case : State of West Bengal v X | Diary No.45628/2025 

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