A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Thursday restrained the state forest department from initiating a fresh process for the recruitment of forest assistants till further orders of the court.

The division bench headed by Justice V.M. Velumani in the same order also stayed the prior order passed by a single bench judge of Calcutta High Court that had cancelled a panel of 2,000 successful candidates.

In 2020, the Bengal forest department had decided to recruit forest assistants for 2,000 vacant posts.

Accordingly, a panel of successful candidates for recruitment as forest assistants was drawn up following the completion of examinations of the aspirants.

However, two separate petitions were filed in Calcutta High Court in May 2023, alleging irregularities in this appointment process.

The petitioners had alleged that certain persons with sub-par qualifications had been selected as a part of the recruitment process.

After hearing the petitions, Justice Lapita Banerji of Calcutta High Court issued an order in May wherein she cancelled the entire panel of successful candidates and asked the state government to initiate a fresh recruitment process.

Accordingly, the process for fresh recruitment started in May itself.

However, once this order was passed, two persons who had been recruited in the earlier process moved high court.

These petitioners demanded that only those candidates whose recruitments were supposedly irregular should be removed, and not everybody.

The state government also challenged and moved an appeal against Justice Banerji’s order, which came up for hearing before the division bench headed by Justice Velumani on Thursday.

The division bench headed by Justice Velumani said that it would take a decision after hearing all the aspects of the case in detail.