Calcutta HC Allows EWS Candidate to Counsel Under Category Despite Certificate Expiry at Document Scrutiny Stage
A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court ruled that a WBJEE applicant who held a valid EWS certificate on the date of online application could not be reverted to the general category merely because the certificate expired before scrutiny.
On 21 July 2026, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising Justice Rajasekhar Mantha and Justice Rai Chattopadhyay disposed of an intra-court appeal filed by Ujjwal Biswas against an order of a Single Judge in WPA 17142 of 2026. The Single Bench had, on 20 July 2026, directed State authorities to expedite processing of Biswas's application for recognition under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category, without granting any substantive interim relief. The Division Bench went further: it directed that Biswas must be permitted to participate in the third round of WBJEE counselling as an EWS candidate, with admission subject to production of a fresh EWS certificate for 2026–2027 once issued. The bench distinguished two Supreme Court precedents cited against the petitioner and held that the critical date for EWS eligibility is the date of application, not the date of document scrutiny.
The Dispute Before the High Court
Biswas applied online for the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) on 11 March 2026 under the EWS category. At the time of that application, he possessed a valid EWS certificate for the financial year 2025–2026 and annexed it to his application.
Unlike Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Other Backward Class certificates, an EWS certificate is issued for a single financial year. A person wishing to claim EWS status must apply for renewal within 60 days after the expiry of the previous certificate. Biswas applied for renewal on the 60th day after his 2025–2026 certificate expired.
He cleared the WBJEE and secured a rank on the basis of his EWS status. However, when documents were scrutinised on 10 July 2026, the authorities found that his EWS certificate for 2026–2027 had not yet been issued. His status was accordingly reverted to that of a general candidate. As an EWS candidate his choice of colleges and courses would have been substantially better than what the general category rank permitted.
The Single Judge, hearing WPA 17142 of 2026, adjourned the matter to 3 August 2026 and directed the State to expedite the EWS application, but did not protect his EWS status for the ongoing counselling rounds. Biswas filed MAT 1176 of 2026 challenging that limited order.
The Legal Question: Which Date Controls EWS Eligibility?
The core question before the Division Bench was whether a candidate must hold a valid EWS certificate on the date of document scrutiny, or whether possession of a valid certificate on the date of application suffices.
Counsel for the University of Calcutta, Mr. Nilotpal Chatterjee, placed reliance on two Supreme Court decisions. The first was Mohit Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors., reported in (2025) SCC OnLine SC 1125, which held that a reserved category candidate must possess a valid certificate as on the date of scrutiny of documentation in any competitive examination. The second was Divya v. Union of India, reported in (2024) 1 SCC 448, particularly paragraph 42 onwards, where the Supreme Court held that a UPSC candidate must possess an EWS certificate on the date of submission of the application, treating that date as crucial for the availment of EWS benefit.
The State's counsel added that EWS certificates are ordinarily required to be issued within 60 days of application, and that since Biswas was within the EWS category at the time of his application, he was entitled to the benefit of that 60-day processing period.
How the Bench Reasoned
The Division Bench declined to apply Mohit Kumar to the facts before it. The bench observed that the Mohit Kumar judgment arose in the context of SC, ST and OBC reservations — categories where certification is valid either for a lifetime or for a substantially longer period than an EWS certificate. Applying a rule designed for those categories to an EWS certificate, which by its very nature expires annually, would produce a result that the Supreme Court could not have intended in that case.
The bench then turned to Divya v. Union of India and found that, far from supporting the University's position, it actually assisted Biswas. Divya fixed the date of application as the critical moment for EWS eligibility. Biswas had, on the date of his WBJEE application on 11 March 2026, a valid and subsisting EWS certificate. He had also applied for renewal within the legally prescribed 60-day window after expiry. The certificate had simply not been processed and issued before the scrutiny date of 10 July 2026.
The bench drew a pointed contrast to illustrate its reasoning. If a person applies for an EWS certificate but has not yet received it, and then participates in a competitive examination claiming EWS status, that application would be a non-starter from the outset — even if the certificate arrives later. Biswas's case was the opposite: he had a valid certificate when he applied, and it expired by efflux of time during the interval between the examination and the counselling scrutiny. That interval was outside his control.
The bench also noted the State's submission that an EWS certificate is ordinarily processed within 60 days of application. Since Biswas was squarely within the EWS category when he made his WBJEE application, he was, in the peculiar facts of the case, entitled to the benefit of that 60-day processing period. His renewal application had been made in time; the administrative delay in issuing the 2026–2027 certificate could not be permitted to defeat his EWS status retroactively.
The bench explicitly stated that “this order is passed in the special facts and circumstances of the case and shall not be treated as precedent in future.”
Directions Issued
As an interim measure, pending final disposal of WPA 17142 of 2026 by the Single Bench, the Division Bench passed the following directions:
Biswas must be permitted to participate in the ongoing third round of WBJEE counselling as an EWS candidate. He must be allotted colleges available in terms of his EWS rank and his stated preferences.
His admission to the chosen college and course will be conditional on production of an EWS certificate for the financial year 2026–2027 once issued by the State. If the State ultimately declines to grant him the certificate for 2026–2027, his admission in the chosen institution will automatically stand terminated, and he will then be offered colleges and courses available to a general category candidate based on his rank in that category.
The State was requested to expedite the processing of Biswas's EWS application. A communication to Biswas was directed to be made within two months from the date a copy of the order is communicated to the authorities. Calcutta University was directed to permit Biswas to produce his documentation within two months from the date of the order.
The writ petition WPA 17142 of 2026 was directed to be taken up for final hearing, subject to the Single Bench's schedule.
Outcome
MAT 1176 of 2026 was disposed of on 21 July 2026. All connected pending applications were also disposed of. No order as to costs was made. The bench directed all parties to act on the server copy of the order downloaded from the official website of the Court.