Bijon Nath v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER 29-08-2023 Heard Shri B. Purkayastha, learned counsel for the petitioner and also heard Ms. S. Terangpi, learned Standing Counsel, Secondary Education Department is present for the respondent nos. 1, 2 & 3; Shri M. H. Borbhuiya, learned Standing Counsel, NCTE is for the respondent no. 4; Ms. R. Deka, learned Standing Counsel, Assam University is present for respondent no. 5; Shri S. K. Das, learned counsel is present for the respondent no. 7 whereas none has appeared for the respondent no. 6-Institute.

¶2Considering the subject matter of this case which is pending since the year 2017 and also the development which has taken place during the pendency, this writ petition is taken up for disposal at the admission stage.

¶3The grievance of the petitioner is with regard to the benefits granted to the respondent no. 7 on the basis of a B.Ed. Certificate which according to the petitioner is invalid. It is the projected case of the petitioner that the respondent no. 7 had applied for the post of Principal of the Swarna Lakshmi Higher Secondary School, Narshingpur in the district of Cachar along with the petitioner. In the said selection, the petitioner was initially appointed on 02.05.2017. However, the said selection was the subject matter of challenge in a writ petition instituted by the present respondent no. 7 being WP(C) No. 2706/2017. In the said writ petition, though an order of status quo was granted, it is the case of the petitioner that he had joined the services and therefore had continued. The petitioner's case is that subsequently he could learn that the B.Ed. Certificate of the respondent no. 7 from the erstwhile Hailakandi B.Ed. College is not valid. The said College which was later on named as Dr. Shashi Bhusan Institute of Education had issued such certificate even prior to the recognisation by the NCTE Act. The present case was thereafter instituted for a direction that any Page No.# 4/4 benefits granted to the respondent no. 7 on the strength of such B.Ed. Certificate should be withdrawn.

¶4Shri Purkayastha, the learned counsel for the petitioner has however fairly submitted that the petitioner had retired from service in the meantime. At the same time, Shri S. K. Das, the learned counsel for the respondent no. 7 has submitted that the writ petition instituted by him that the earlier WP(C) No. 2706/2017 was ultimately allowed on 13.02.2019 and thereafter, the petitioner was reverted to the post of Graduate Teacher from which post he had retired from service.

¶5Considering that the relief claimed in this writ petition is only for withdrawing any benefits which have accrued to the respondent no. 7 on the strength of the B.Ed. Certificate which has been questioned and the petitioner has also retired from service in the meantime, this Court is of the considered opinion that no fruitful purpose would be served by continuing this petition. This Court is also of the opinion that the petitioner would not get anything tangible by continuing with such challenge, which has only become academic in nature.

¶6In view of the above, the instant writ petition is closed. It is however made clear that no observation is made on the merits of the challenge.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010081082020 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooWP(C)/4291/2017 BIJONoNATH S/OoBISHWAMBHARoNATH oB.SC. oMA oB.ED. oPRINCIPALoSWARNAoLAKSHMIoHSoSCHOOL oNARSHINGPUR oVILLoandoPO-oNARSHINGPUR oPS-SONAI oDIST.oCACHAR oASSAM oPIN-788115 oVERSUS THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoando6oORS. REP.oBYoCOMMISSIONERoandoSECRETARY oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oDPETT.oOFoSECONDARYoEDUCATION oDISPUR oGUWAHATI oASSAM oPIN-781006 2:THEoDIRECTORoOFoSECONDARYoEDUCATIONoCUMoMEMBERoSECRETARY STATEoSELECTIONoBOARD oASSAM oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI oASSAM oPIN-781019 o3:THEoINSPECTORoOFoSCHOOLS CDC Page No.# 2/4 SILCHAR PO and DIST. CACHAR ASSAM 4:THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION EASTERN REGIONAL COMMITTEE REP. BY ITS REGIONAL DIRECTOR NILAKANTHA NAGAR NAYAPALLI BHUBANESWAR ORISSA PIN-751012 5:THE ASSAM UNIVERSITY SILCHAR REP. BY ITS REGISTRAR/ CONTROLLER OF EXAMINATION SILCHAR CACHAR ASSAM PIN-788014 6:THE DR. SHASHI BHUSAN INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION B.ED. COLLEGE LAKSHIRBOND BOALIPAR BAZAR HAILAKANDI REP. BY ITS PRINCIPAL DIST. HAILAKANDI ASSAM PIN-788155 7:SMTI GEETASHREE DAS SUBJECT TEACHER ENGLISH SWARNA LAKSHMI HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL PO-NARSINGPUR PS-SONAI DIST. CACHAR ASSAM PIN-788115 ------------ Advocate for : MR.A K DUTTA Advocate for : SC ASSAM UNIVERSITY appearing for THE STATE OF ASSAM and 6 ORS. Page No.# 3/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR MEDHI