The State of Assam and 4 Ors v. Rabbul Huda and 30 Ors

ORDER Date : 20-02-2023 This intra-court appeal is directed against the order dated 03.03.2017 passed by the learned Single Bench in WP(C) 268/2013 accepting the writ petition of the respondents, and the order dated 12.05.2022 dismissing the review petition filed by the appellant State. By the impugned order dated 03.03.2017, the learned Single Bench accepted the writ petition filed by the respondents herein and issued a direction upon the appellants to release the payment of arrears of salary to the respondents from the date on which the Writ Petition(C) 2500/2011 was instituted.

¶2Mr. R. Mazumdar, learned counsel for the appellant department urged that the respondents were accorded back door entry on the post of teachers. Their services were regularised without following due process of law. As a matter of fact, the respondents procured the orders of regularisation by fraudulent means inasmuch as during the course of enquiry into the matter, the District Elementary Education Officer

(DEEO)/s concerned have deposed that the orders of regularisation were not issued under their signatures. It is, thus, urged that the respondents were not entitled to the Page No.# 7/8 relief claimed in the writ petition and, hence, the orders passed by the learned Single Bench deserve to be reversed.

¶3Per contra, learned senior counsel Mr. M. K. Choudhury, assisted by Mr. M. Dutta, learned counsel urged that the writ petition was filed by the respondents herein seeking a direction for release of their salary which had been illegally withheld by the appellants. The appellant department did not make any attempt to revoke the regularisation orders of the writ petitioners and hence it does not lie in the mouth of the appellant department to question the validity of the impugned orders passed by the learned Single Bench. Referring to the additional affidavit submitted on behalf of the respondents/writ petitioners in this appeal, learned senior counsel urged that an FIR No. 467/17 was lodged by the Director of Elementary Education, Assam, alleging inter alia that the writ petitioners procured the regularisation orders by practising fraud. However, after thorough investigation, the investigating agency submitted a negative final report in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Morigaon, which has been accepted by order dated 29.05.2019. It was, thus, contended that there is no material whatsoever on the record of the case to even prima facie suggest that the regularisation orders were tainted by irregularity or fraud. Learned senior counsel implored the Court to dismiss the appeal and to affirm the orders passed by the learned Single Bench.

¶4We have given thoughtful consideration to the submissions advanced by the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the materials on record.

¶5The foundation of the challenge laid by the appellant department to the orders under appeal is based on an allegation that the respondents/writ petitioners procured the orders of regularisation issued way back in the year 1999 by practising fraud. However, it is an admitted position that till date, no step whatsoever has been taken by the appellant department to rescind/cancel these orders of regularisation. The assertions made by the appellants' counsel questioning the veracity of the Page No.# 8/8 regularisation orders is unfounded when we peruse the contents of the additional affidavit submitted by the respondents along with which, documents pertaining to the FIR No. 467/2017 are annexed. These documents indicate that the FIR lodged by the DEEO resulted into a negative final report which has been accepted by the Court concerned. There being no proceeding to revoke/rescind the orders of regularisation issued way back in the year 1999, the appellant department is not entitled to withhold the salary and/or other service benefits of the respondents.

¶6As a consequence, we find no infirmity in the impugned orders warranting interference therein. This intra-court appeal thus fails and is dismissed being devoid of merit.

JUDGE CHIEF JUSTICE

Comparing Assistant

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