Nurul Islam v. The State of Assam and 3 Ors

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010133132023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/3605/2023o NURULoISLAMo S/OoLATEoKHAIRAMANDAL,oVILL-BHETUMARI,o P.O.-CHUKRUNGBARI,oP.S.-SORBHOG,oDIST-BARPETA,oASSAM oooooooooooooooooooooooVERSUSo 1:oTHEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo3oORSoREPRESENTEDoBYoPRINCIPALo SECRETARY,oEDUCATIONoDEPARTMENT,oGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oDISPUR,o GUWAHATI-6 2:SECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM SCHOLLoEDUCATIONoDEPARTMENToDISPURoGUWAHATI-6 3:DIRECTORoOFoSECONDARYoEDUCATION ASSAMoKAHILIPARAoGUWAHATI-19 4:INSPECTORoOFoSCHOOLS BAKSAoDISTRICToCIRCLEoMUSHALPURoBAKSAo AdvocateoforotheoPetitionerooooo:oMRoJoCHUTIYAo AdvocateoforotheoRespondento:oSC,oSEC.oEDU.oo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo BEFORE HONOURABLE0MR.0JUSTICE0N.0UNNI0KRISHNAN0NAIR ORDERo Dateo:oo29-01-2024 Heard;Mr.;J.;Chutiya,;learned;counsel;for;the;petitioner.;Also;heard;Mr.;B. Kaushik, ; learned ; standing ; counsel, ; Education ; (Secondary) ; Department, representing;all;the;respondents.; Page No.# 2/4 The petitioner, by way of the present proceeding, has raised the grievance with regard to the action taken on the part of the respondent authorities in not taking forward his case for provincialisation on the ground that his name is not reflected in the DISE data maintained for Higher Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools. The petitioner was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Arabic in Dakshin Bijni College (Junior) Ananda Bazar, Barpeta, vide an appointment letter dated 04.08.2003. The petitioner joined his services in terms of the said letter of appointment on 04.08.2003 itself. The petitioner contends that the cases of eligible teachers of Dakshin Bijni College (Junior), including the petitioner, were taken up for consideration for provincialization under the provisions of the Assam Education (Provincialiation of Services of Teachers and Re-organization of Educational Institutions) Act, 2017 (in short "Act of 2017") and their services were provincialised. However, the case of the petitioner for such provincialisation was not considered favorably although the District Scrutiny Committee had recommended his case for such provincialisation. It is the case of the petitioner that the respondent authorities have refused to consider the case of the petitioner only on the ground that his name did not figure in the DISE data stated to be available for the School in question. The provisions of the Act of 2017 requires the particulars of a School to be captured in the DISE data and a DISE code assigned only in case of a Venture Lower Primary School or Upper Primary School, whereas such requirement is not mentioned for a Venture Higher Secondary School. However, the respondents have not considered the case of the petitioner as his name did not figure in the DISE data. A Coordinate Bench of this Court in WP(C) No.1353/2022 (Kishor Kumar Nath & Ors. -Vs-The State of Assam & Ors.) and other connected writ Page No.# 3/4 petitions, vide judgment & order dated 12.04.2023, had dealt with the said issue and concluded as follows:- "16. Therefore, a conjoint reading of the provisions referred to hereinabove in respect to the Act of 2017 there is no requirement for the names of the teachers working in the 'Venture High School' as well as 'Venture Higher Secondary School' as defined in Section 2(x) and 2(y) of the Act of 2017 to have their names captured in the DISE Code as is otherwise required in the case of a teachers/tutors whose services are to be provincialised in respect of 'Venture ME School' and 'Venture Lower Primary School' as well as 'Venture Upper Primary School' as defined in Sections 2(za), 2(zb) and 2(zc) of the Act of 2017 wherein the names of such teachers or tutors are required to be captured in the DISE Code up to 2009-10.

¶17In the backdrop of the above, let this Court take into consideration the case of the petitioners before this Court in the present batch of writ petitions. The learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the concerned respondent authorities have not processed the proposals for provincialisation of the services of the petitioners who are working in 'Venture High Schools' and 'Venture Higher Secondary Schools' on the ground that the petitioners' names are not captured in the DISE Code. It is also the case of the petitioners that the concerned authorities have issued communication not to process such proposals of provincialisation of services of teachers/tutors whose names have not been captured in the DISE Code.

¶18This Court, on the basis of the above analysis of the provisions of the Act of 2017, is of the opinion that the insistence of the respondent authorities of the names of petitioners who have been rendering services in 'Venture High School' and 'Venture Higher Secondary School' to be captured in the DISE Code of 2009-10 is contrary to the Act of 2017 as it is not the mandate of the Act of 2017 to fulfill such requirement in respect to such teachers and/or tutors working in 'Venture High School' and 'Venture Higher Secondary School' to have their names captured in the DISE Code upto 2009-10. Such insistence is arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of the Act of 2017 and accordingly interfered with." In view of the said position, this writ petition stands disposed of with a direction to the respondent authorities, more particularly, the Director of Secondary Education, Assam to consider the case of the petitioner for provincialisation of his services as a teacher/tutor by having the recommendation made in case of the petitioner by the jurisdictional District Scrutiny Committee Page No.# 4/4 scrutinized by the State Level Committee in terms of the provisions of Section 13(10). It is provided that the State Level Committee in terms of Section 13(11) shall be at liberty to carry out physical verification of the institution of the petitioner and call for such other record and documents as may be required for the purpose of verification. After verification of all such documents and records that may be produced before it, also carrying out of physical verification of the institution, the State Level Committee shall come to a conclusion with regard to the recommendation made by the District Scrutiny Committee in favour of the petitioner for provincialisation of his services against the post of Lecturer in the Department of Arabic in Dakshin Bijni College (Junior) Ananda Bazar, Barpeta. The State Level Committee or any other authority shall not insist upon the petitioner for producing a DISE code of the year 2009-10, or prior thereto, or thereafter. The above exercise shall be completed within a period of 6(six) months from the date a certified copy is placed before the Director of Secondary Education, Assam. The decision that would be arrived at in the matter shall be communicated to the petitioner in the form of a speaking order. The writ petition accordingly stands disposed of. J U D G E Comparing Assistant