HC scraps Joint Entrance merit list over OBC certification
The Statesman | 9 August 2025
The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board (WBJEEB) to scrap its merit list and prepare a new one, citing irregularities related to Other Backward Classes (OBC) certification and reservations.
A single bench of Justice Kaushik Chanda directed that the revised merit panel be prepared based solely on the pre-2010 list of 66 recognized OBC communities. The court gave the board 15 days to implement the order and an additional three weeks to file an affidavit confirming compliance, to be submitted by a senior special secretary-level official.
The merit list was scheduled to be published today, but the court’s ruling has cast fresh uncertainty over the results. Justice Chanda reiterated that only the 7% OBC reservation quota, based on the pre-2010 list, will be valid for admissions.
The ruling stems from a 2024 Calcutta High Court verdict that nullified all OBC certificates issued under post-2010 classifications. The Left Front government had added 42 communities to the OBC list in 2010, followed by another 35 by the Trinamul Congress government in 2012. The court has declared all such additions invalid.
The ruling also questioned the legality and speed with which recent OBC certificates were issued, despite an earlier Supreme Court interim stay on the High Court’s OBC verdict. “How could all applications and verifications be completed within such a short span?” the bench asked, expressing concern that the merit list was not prepared following proper procedures. Justice Chanda noted that the state government had violated the High Court’s earlier order by not implementing it during the period before the Supreme Court stay came into effect.
The order, which has to be communicated to the Chief Secretary of West Bengal, has added to the uncertainty facing thousands of students awaiting the results of the crucial entrance exam for engineering and pharmacy courses in the state. There was no immediate response from state education officials or the Joint Entrance Board.
Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Sukanta Majumdar had criticised the state government over its delay in publishing the JEE results, alleging gross administrative failure and political negligence. “The exam was conducted on 27 April. Today is August 7. Three months and 11 days have passed, and yet the results have not been declared,” Majumdar said in a statement. Accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of prioritising “divisive narratives” over governance, Majumdar alleged that the ruling Trinamul Congress was more focused on “appeasement-driven politics” than on resolving the crisis.
“While Bengal’s students remain anxious and uncertain, the CM is unmoved,” he said. “This is a direct result of her failure, negligence, and relentless politics of appeasement.” The JEE Board has yet to announce a date for the release of the results.