Biswajit Kumar Nath and 4 Ors v. The State of Assam and 8 Ors

ORDER Date : 02-01-2023 Heard Mr. U K Nair, learned senior counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. D Mazumdar, learned Additional Advocate General and Mr. D Nath, learned Senior Government Advocate for the respondents in the Agriculture Department and Personnel (A) Department of the Government of Assam as well as Ms. N Shyam, learned counsel for the respondents no. 5 to 9.

¶2The petitioners herein are Assistant Executive Engineers in the Agriculture Department of the Government of Assam and belong to the unreserved category whereas the respondents no. 5 to 9 are also Assistant Executive Engineers who were promoted to the next higher cadre and belong to the reserved category. The petitioners assail the accelerated promotion and the consequential seniority meted to the respondents no. 5 to 9 on the ground that one of the requirements of invoking the provisions of Article 16 (4A) of the Constitution of India i.e. to arrive at the quantifiable data, had not been undertaken.

¶3It is stated that the issue regarding the entitlement to the accelerated promotion and the consequential benefits is already the subject matter of a series of writ petitions being WP(C) No. 2999/2020 and other writ petitions and it is also stated that the said batch of writ petitions have already been heard and the matter is CAV. Accordingly, it is submitted that the Page No.# 4/4 question of law involved would be decided by the judgment in WP(C) No. 2999/2020 and other writ petitions and no independent judgment is required in this writ petition.

¶4With regard to the other aspect, we have taken note that whatever promotion or consequential seniority had been meted to the respondents no. 5 to 9, had been done 12 or 11 years prior and there is no interim order in this writ petition. Even if the judgment that may be rendered in WP(C) No. 2999/2020 and other writ petitions would be in favour of the unreserved category candidates like that of the petitioners, another question would remain as to what consequential benefits the petitioners would be entitled vis-à-vis the private respondents who had already been promoted about 11 or 12 years back and may be subsequent promotions have also been meted in their favour.

¶5As regards the entitlement of the petitioners vis-à-vis the respondents no. 5 to 9, we leave it entirely to the wisdom of the state respondents which may be decided upon any application being made by the petitioners subsequent to the judgment that may be rendered in WP(C) No. 2999/2020 and other writ petitions where the question of law may be decided. Writ petition stands closed with the aforesaid observations.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010131522013 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/5295/2013o BISWAJIToKUMARoNATHoando4oORSo S/OoLT.oK.N.oNATH,oR/OoNIRUPAMoAPARTMENT,oABC,oGHY-5,oDIST-o KAMRUPoMETRO,oASSAM 2:oRUPAMoDAS oS/OoLT.oK.K.oDAS oR/OoRAJGARHoROAD oGUWAHATI oDIST-oKAMRUPoMETRO oASSAM 3:oPURANJOYoGOSWAMI oS/OoLT.oRAMoGOSWAMI oR/OoCHENIKUTHI oGHY-3 oDIST-oKAMRUPoMETRO oASSAM 4:oPRASANNAJIToSAIKIA oS/OoLT.oP.C.oSAIKIA oR/OoDHANNWAoNAPAR oTEZPUR oDIST-oSONITPUR oASSAM 5:oPRATULoSARMA oS/OoSRIoBASUDEVoSARMA oR/OoJATIA oKAHILIPARAoROAD oGUWAHATI oDIST-oKAMRUP oASSAo VERSUSo PageoNo.#o2/4 THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo8oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,o AGRICULTUREoDEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,oGHY-6 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oAGRICULTUREoDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGHY-6 3:THEoDIRECTORoOFoAGRICULTURE oASSAM oKHANAPARA oGHY-22 4:THEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARY oPERSONNELoAoDEPARTMENT oGOVT.oOFoASSAM oDISPUR oGHY-6 5:HIRENoDAS oPRESENTLYoWORKINGoASoASSTT.oEXECUTIVEoENGINEER oAGRICULTUREoDEPARTMENT oGUWAHATI oDIST-oKAMRUP oASSAM 6:HIRENoBORO oPRESENTLYoWORKINGoASoASSTT.oEXECUTIVEoENGINEER oAGRICULTUREoDEPARTMENT oGUWAHATI oDIST-oKAMRUP oASSAM 7:RANBIRoKAKATY oPRESENTLYoWORKINGoASoASSTT.oEXECUTIVEoENGINEER oAGRICULTUREoDEPARTMENT oGUWAHATI oDIST-oKAMRUP oASSAM 8:MADHABoDOLEY oPRESENTLYoWORKINGoASoASSTT.oEXECUTIVEoENGINEER oAGRICULTUREoDEPARTMENT oGUWAHATI oDIST-oKAMRUP Page No.# 3/4 ASSAM 9:RAMSING HANSE PRESENTLY WORKING AS ASSTT. EXECUTIVE ENGINEER AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT GUWAHATI DIST- KAMRUP ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR.A SARMA Advocate for the Respondent : MR. D SARMAH (R5) BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ACHINTYA MALLA BUJOR BARUA