Musstt. Hafiza Ahmed v. The State of Assam and 5 Ors

ORDER

26.02.2024 Heard Mr. S. Das, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Ms. S. Konwary, learned Standing Counsel, Elementary Education for the respondents No. 1 to 5 and Mr. P Nayak, learned Standing Counsel, Finance for the respondent No. 6.

¶2This writ petition is preferred with a limited prayer for release of the payment of arrear salary to the writ petitioner.

¶3The facts involved in this case have been described in the order dated

17.04.2017 passed in W.P.(C) No. 585/2017 whereby the writ petition preferred by the petitioner earlier stood disposed of with a specific direction to the respondents to pay the current salary as well as the arrear salary. The directions passed in the writ petition are extracted as under: "Accordingly, a writ of mandamus is issued to the respondents to pay the current Page No.# 3/4 salary of the petitioner from the month of May, 2017. The arrear payment of salary to the petitioner from 13.09.2012 shall be made by 31st July, 2017. If the payment aforesaid is not made in terms of the directions above, the petitioner will be entitled to interest @ 6% from 13.09.2012, to be paid by the current incumbents, who are arrayed as respondent Nos.1 to 5 in this petition."

¶4It is submitted that although the current salary has been paid but the arrear salary has not been released and no information was forthcoming from the respondents as to why the arrear salary has not been received.

¶5The learned Standing Counsel, Elementary Education department submits that no appeal or review has been filed against the order dated 17.04.2017 passed in W.P.(C) No.585/2017.

¶6Upon submissions of the learned counsel for the parties and upon careful perusal of the writ petition as well as order dated 17.04.2017 passed in W.P.(C) No. 585/2017 by a Co-ordinate Bench, this Court is of view that there is a writ of mandamus issued to the respondents to pay the current salary as well as the arrear salary for the period and if the payment is not made then the petitioner was held to be entitled to an interest of 6% from 13.09.2012 to be paid.

¶7Inspite of such clear and specific directions, although the current salary was released, the arrear salary has not been paid.

¶8Under such circumstances, this Court finds that where a writ of mandamus has already been issued, no further writ is called for in this matter. However, considering the fact that the current salary has already been released, we permit further 60(sixty) days time to release the arrear as directed in terms of the order dated 17.04.2017 passed in W.P.(C) No. 585/2017 by a Co-ordinate Bench.

¶9It is made clear that since the arrear salary of the petitioner has not been Page No.# 4/4 released by 31.07.2017, the petitioner would be entitled to an interest of 6% from 13.09.2012 to be paid in respect of the arrear salary as directed by this Court by order dated 17.04.2017 passed in W.P.(C) No. 585/2017.

¶10The authorities will comply with this order within a period of 60 (Sixty) days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order to be placed before the respondent authorities. The authorities will verify the claims of the petitioner within the said period and thereafter release the same.

¶11The writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of in terms of the above. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010034572024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/928/2024o MUSSTT.oHAFIZAoAHMEDo WIFEoOFoLATEoHARUNoRASHID,oRESIDENToOFoVILLAGEoGERUAHATI,oP.O.o GERUAHATIoBAZAR,oP.S.oRUPAHIHAT,oDIST.-oNAGAON,oASSAM,oPIN-o782140 VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo5oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEo GOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,oEDUCATIONoDEPARTMENTo(ELEMENTARY),o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-6,oDISTRICT-oKAMRUPo(M),oASSAM 2:THEoDIRECTORoOFoELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oGOVERNMENToOFoASSAM oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI-o19 oDISTRICT-oKAMRUPo(M) oASSAM 3:THEoDEPUTYoDIRECTOR oELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oASSAM oOFFICEoOFoTHEoDIRECTOR oELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI-o19 oDISTRICT-oKAMRUPo(M) oASSAM 4:THEoDISTRICToELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoOFFICER oNAGAON 5:THEoBLOCKoELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoOFFICER Page No.# 2/4 LAWKHOWA NAGAON ASSAM 6:THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM FINANCE DEPARTMENT DISPUR GUWAHATI-6 DISTRICT- KAMRUP (M) ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. SURAJIT DAS Advocate for the Respondent : SC, ELEM. EDU BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SOUMITRA SAIKIA