The Bodoland Territorial Council (Btc) and Anr v. The State of Assam and 18 Ors

ORDER Page No.# 5/7 Date : 24-05-2023

Heard Mr. D. Saikia, learned Sr. standing counsel, BTC assisted by Mr. R.K. Musahary, learned standing counsel, BTC appearing for the applicant. Also heard Mr. P. Mahanta, learned counsel for the writ petitioner/ opposite party. As per Clause-5.4 of the Memorandum of Settlement dated 10-02-2003 entered into by and between the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) and the State of Assam, the BTC is required to constitute Central Selection Board (CSB) for conducting selection process for making appointments within the BTC area. Accordingly, vide notification dated 22-06-2018, a CSB constituted by the writ petitioners was notified by the authorities. However, subsequently, the Principal Secretary to the BTC, i.e. the respondent No. 4 had issued another order dated 20-06-2020 whereby, the appointment/ nomination of the petitioners as Chairman and Members of the CSB was cancelled. Aggrieved by the order dated 20-06-2020, the Chairman and the Members of the CSB as writ petitioners, have approached this Court by filing the connected with petition. After hearing the submission of learned counsel for both the sides, this Court had passed order dated 24-08-2020 in the connected writ petition issuing notice. There was no stay order reinstating the writ petitioners back in office. The learned Single Judge had, however, observed that in the event the elected body or the respondent authorities intend to constitute a fresh CSB, the same be done only by taking leave of this Court. The present application has accordingly been filed by the BTC as well as the Principal Secretary to the BTC as applicants, seeking leave of the Court to constitute the CSB. Page No.# 6/7 By referring to the statement made in the application, Mr. Saikia submits that the term of the Board constituted by the writ petitioners as Chairman and the Members would any way come to an end on 21-06-2023. However, the restoration of the petitioners is not possible unless they succeed in the writ petition. On the contrary, there are more than 1000 posts lying vacant in the BTC area, which could not be filled up till today due to the absence of CSB. Therefore, the authorities have approached this Court by filing this I.A. seeking leave to constitute CSB. Mr. Mahanta, on the other hand, has argued that since the respondents have not filed pleadings despite the order of the learned Single Judge, the writ petition be taken up for hearing at an early date and till then, no such leave be granted. By referring to a decision of the Division Bench of this Court rendered in the case of Sub-Divisional Welfare Boards for ST & Ors. Vs. The State of Assam represented by the Commissioner & Secretary, WPT&BC Department & Ors. reported in 2017 (5) GLR 177, Mr. Mahanta submits that in case of a statutory body, which had a fixed tenure, doctrine of pleasure cannot be invoked to dismiss such body. Therefore, submits Mr. Mahanta, his clients have a good case on merit. It appears from the materials on record that since 24-08-2020 till the time of filing the present I.A., the writ petitioners have not made any prayer before this Court for expeditious hearing and disposal of the writ petition, although they were out of office in the absence of any interim order passed by this Court. The prayer made in the I.A. is not only in terms of the leave granted by the order dated 24-08-2020 but is also meant to subserve a larger public purpose, i.e. conducting recruitment for filling up posts in Govt. Page No.# 7/7 offices in the BTC area. What is to be borne in mind is that writ court would give primacy to public interest at large over private interest of some individuals. If the BTC authorities are unable to fill up nearly 1000 vacant posts due to absence of a CSB, it cannot be said that leave as sought for from this Court should be denied merely because it would subserve the private interest of the petitioners. In any case, since the writ petitioners are already out of office, in the absence of any specific direction/ order from the Court, they cannot be restored back in office. As such, leave as prayed for by the applicants is hereby granted. The applicants may proceed to constitute a new CSB as per the requirement of law. However, constitution of such CSB shall be subject to final order(s) that may be passed in the connected writ petition. With the above observation, this I.A. stands disposed of.

JUDGE GS Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/7 GAHC010069682023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oI.A.(Civil)/888/2023o THEoBODOLANDoTERRITORIALoCOUNCILo(BTC)oANDoANR.o REP.oBYoITSoPRINCIPALoSECRETARY,oKOKRAJHAR,oASSAM. 2:oTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARY oBODOLANDoTERRITORIALoCOUNCILo(BTC) oBODAFAoNAGAR oP.O.oANDoDIST.oKOKRAJHAR oBTAD oPIN-783370 oASSAMo VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo18oORSo REP.oBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECY.,oW.P.T.oANDoB.C.oDEPTT.,oGOVT.o OFoASSAM,oDISPUR-05,oASSAM. 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARY oTOoTHEoGOVERNORoOFoASSAM oRAJoBHAWAN oGUWAHATI-781001. 3:SHRIoNIRENoCHANDRAoROY oS/O.oLT.oDINONATHoROY oR/O.oVILL.oTANGABARI oP.O.oKAJALGAON oDIST.oCHIRANG oPIN-783385 oASSAM. 4:DILLUoSHARMA PageoNo.#o2/7 oS/O.oLT.oSIBALALoSHARMA oVILL.oHALIGHAR oROWTAoCHARIALI oP.O.oTOWTA oDIST.oUDALGURI oPIN-784508 oASSAM. 5:JAMINIoBALAoBRAHMA oD/O.oLT.oHARICHARANoBRAHMA oVILL.oDAHALAPARA oP.O.oKHAGRABARI oDIST.oCHIRANG oPIN-783380 oASSAM. 6:KAMALoSINGHoBRAHMA oS/O.oLT.oKALARAMoBRAHMA oVILL.oNO.1oDAGORPARA oP.O.oNEHRUBAZAR oDIST.oCHIRANG oPIN-783393. 7:DILIPoSETHIA oS/O.oLT.oMOHANoLALoSETHIA oR/O.oJ.D.oROAD oKOKRAJHARoTOWN oWARDoNO.5 oP.O.oKOKRAJHAR oDIST.oKOKRAJHAR oPIN-783370 oASSAM. 8:BAKTARoALIoAHMED oS/O.oLT.oIMANUDDINoAHMED oR/O.oWARDoNO.3 oKOKRAJHAR oDIST.oKOKRAJHAR oPIN-783360 oASSAM. 9:JAYLALoPOKHREL oS/O.oLT.oBHIMoPRASADoPOKHREL oR/O.oVILL.oNIKASHI oDHANSRIPUR oP.O.oNIKASHI oDIST.oBAKSA PageoNo.#o3/7 oPIN-781372 oASSAM. 10:GITIMAoDAS oD/O.oDUGESWARoMEDHI oR/O.oWARDoNO.4 oP.O.oGOSSAIGAON oDIST.oKOKRAJHAR oPIN-783360 oASSAM. 11:KARUNAoKANTAoSWARGIARY oD/O.oLT.oDHARMESWARoSWARGIARY oR/O.oWARDoNO.2 oP.O.oTANGLA oDIST.oUDALGURI oPIN-784521 oASSAM. 12:RAJENDRAoNATHoBRAHMAo(CHAIRMAN) oS/O.oLT.oCHANAoRAMoBRAHMA oR/O.oVILL.oHABRUBARI oP.O.oDOTMA oDIST.oKOKRAJHAR oPIN-783347 oASSAM. 13:SAHABUDDINoALIoAHMED oS/O.oLT.oSUABoALI oR/O.oVILL.oBHOGPUR oP.O.oBHOGPUR oDIST.oBAKSA oPIN-781366 oASSAM. 14:MONESWARoKUMARoRABHA oS/O.oRATIoKANTAoRABHA oVILL.oPADMAPARA oP.O.oPADDAPAR oDIST.oBAKSA oPIN-781367 oASSAM. 15:HOPNAoSOREN oS/O.oLT.oBARKAoSOREN oVILL.oMESTABARIo(KHAPORGAON) oP.O.oPATGAON Page No.# 4/7 DIST. KOKRAJHAR PIN-783346 ASSAM. 16:BISHIRAM NARZARY S/O. LT. KHUCHU RAM NARZARI VILL. BAMUNGAON P.O. SILGARA DIST. KOKRAJHAR PIN-783370 ASSAM. 17:PIOLI PHUKAN NATH S/O. LT. NISHI KANTA NATH R/O. VILL. BALAJAN TINIALI P.O. HOLTUGAON DIST. KOKRAJHAR PIN-783370 ASSAM. 18:SHYAMAL SARKAR S/O. LT. HARIMOHAN SARKAR R/O. VILL. NABINPATTY WARD NO.1 P.O. TANGLA DIST. UDALGURI PIN-784521 ASSAM. 19:GEORGE DIPAK NAG S/O. JULIUS NAG R/O. BHOLLAKASH P.O. BATAKUCHI DIST. UDALRUGI PIN-784510 ASSAM Advocate for the Petitioner : SC, BTC Advocate for the Respondent : SC, WPT AND BC BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SUMAN SHYAM