Bacchu Deb Nath v. The State of Assam and 8 Ors

ORDER

03-03-2023 Heard Ms. R. S. Deuri, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. U. Sarma, learned Standing Page No.# 3/4 counsel, Department of School Education, Assam for the respondent Nos. 1, 2 & 4. Also heard Mr. A. Chaliha, learned Standing counsel, Finance Department, Assam for the respondent No. 3 and Ms. R.B.Borah, learned Standing counsel, BTC for the respondent Nos. 5 to 7.

¶2It is submitted by the petitioner that on being appointed by the School Managing Committee of 472 No. Salakati Lower Primary School, District-Kokrajhar pursuant to the resolution dated

30.08.1997, the petitioner namely, Bacchu Deb Nath is serving as an Assistant Teacher of 472 No. Salakati L.P. School on honorary basis since 30.08.1997. In that regard, the Headmistress of said School on 19.06.2015 issued a certificate to the petitioner annexed to this petition as Annexure-D.

¶3It is submitted by the petitioner that though she is discharging her duties as an Assistant Teacher like a regular employee for more than 14 years without any break in service but her service has not yet been regularized for which she is still serving as an honorary teacher in said School.

¶4The Assam Elementary Education (Provincialisation) Rules, 1977, a statutory Rule under Article 309 of the Constitution of India regulates the recruitment and condition of service of teachers of the elementary schools that were provincialised under the Assam Elementary Education (Provincialisation) Act, 1974.

¶5Prior to coming into force of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and the Assam Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011, the required eligibility criteria for the post of an Assistant Teacher in such provincialised elementary school was specified in said 1977 Rules and all along, the appointment of an Assistant Teacher in such elementary school is to be made by a Direct recruitment following the provisions of Articles 14 and 16 of the constitution of India, i.e., by advertisement and selection on merit.

¶6In the case in hand, though the petitioner has prayed for regularization of her service as an Assistant Teacher in said 472 No. Salakati L.P. School but it is seen that said School is provincialised prior to the appointment of the petitioner made by the School Managing Committee of said School on

30.08.1997.

¶7On being enquired, Ms. Deuri, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner did not report for her service after the Pandemic Covid-19.

¶8It is well settled in law that once a school is provincialised, the School Managing Committee does not have any right to appoint any teacher on honorary basis since any such recruitment in a Page No.# 4/4 provincialised elementary school is made in accordance with the specific recruitment Rules.

¶9Considering the case of provincialisation, this Court in the case of Jahangir Alam and others Vs. State of Assam and others reported in 2003 (3) GLT 544 have already settled the law that any such honorary teacher appointed by the School Managing Committee in a provincialised elementary school, does not have any right to claim for regularization as his/her appointment is not in accordance with the statutory Rules of recruitment and in violation of the provisions of Articles 14 and 16 of the constitution of India.

¶10In view of the above, this writ petition being devoid of merit, stands dismissed.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010019102015 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/4757/2015o BACCHUoDEBoNATHo SONoOFoSRIoBANKAoBIHARYoDEBoNATH,oRESIDENToOFoVILLAGE- SALAKATI,oP.O.-SALAKATI,oP.S.-BASUGAON,oDIST.-KOKRAJHAR,oASSAM,o PIN-783369 VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo8oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoandoSECETAYoTOoTHo GOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,oEDUCATIONoELEMENTARYoDEPARTMENT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-781006. 2:THEoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oEDUCATIONoPLANNINGoDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-781006.oASSAM 3:THEoJOINToSECRETARY oGOVT.oOFoASSAM oFINANCEoEC-IIIoDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-781006 oASSAM. 4:THEoDIRECTORoOFoELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oASSAM oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI-781019. 5:THEoSECETARY oEDUCATIONoDEPARTMENT Page No.# 2/4 BODOLAND TERRITORIAL COUNCIL KOKRAJHAR ASSAM PIN-783370 6:THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION BODOLAND TERRITORIAL COUNCIL KOKRAJHAR ASSAM PIN-783370. 7:THE DY. INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS KOKRAJHAR ASSAM 8:THE PRESIDENT SCHOOL MANAGING COMMITTEE OF 472 NO. SALAKATI LOWER PRIMARY SCHOOL VILL.-SALAKATI P.O.-SALAKATI DIST.-KOKRAJHAR ASSAM. PIN-783369. 9:THE HEAD MISTRESS 472 NO. SALAKATI LOWER PRIMARY SCHOOL VILL.-SALAKATI P.O.-SALAKATI DIST.-KOKRAJHAR ASSAM PIN-783369 Advocate for the Petitioner : MRS.R S DEURI Advocate for the Respondent : SC, BTCR-5,6 BEFORE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANASH RANJAN PATHAK