Sajira Sharma v. The State of Assam and 2 Ors

PageoNo.#o1/3 GAHC010148362017 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/7058/2017o SAJIRAoSHARMAo W/OoSRIoPRANABoBORAHoR/OoVILL-oMURHATETELIo P.O.oandoP.S.oTEZPURoDIST.oSONITPUR,oASSAM,oPINo-o784001. oooooooooooooooooooooooooooVERSUSo 1:oTHEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoando2oORSoREP.oBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDo SECRETARTYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oEDUCATIONoSECONDARYo DEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATIo-6. 2:THEoDIRECTORoOFoSECONDARYoEDUCATION ASSAMoKAHILIPARAoGUWAHATIo-19oDIST.oKAMRUPoMoASSAM 3:THEoINSPECTORoOFoSCHOOLSoSONITPURoDISTRICToCIRCLEo TEZPURoDIST.oSONITPURoASSAMoPINo-o784001o AdvocateoforotheoPetitionerooooo:oMS.IoDEKAo AdvocateoforotheoRespondento:oo ooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo BEFORE HONOURABLE0MR.0JUSTICE0N.0UNNI0KRISHNAN0NAIR ORDERo Dateo:oo08-01-2024 Heard;Mr.;R.;Sarma,;learned;counsel;for;the;petitioner;and;Ms.;D. Musahary, ; learned ; standing ; counsel, ; Education ; (Secondary) ; Department, appearing;for;all;the;respondents.; Page No.# 2/3 The petitioner has raised a grievance with regard to a communication dated 25.09.2017 issued by the Commissioner & Secretary to the Government of Assam, Education (Secondary) Department, by which her promotion to the post of Headmistress of Keherukhanda High School was cancelled. The petitioner in pursuance to an advertisement dated 14.05.2015 had submitted her application for being considered for appointment against the post of Headmistress. The petitioner in her application had submitted that she had joined her services on 25.06.2014 and was receiving the graduate scale w.e.f. 25.06.2014. Basing on the said disclosure made, the concerned authorities vide order dated 05.08.2017 appointed the petitioner as Headmistress of Keherukhanda High School and the petitioner accordingly joined her services. It is to be noted here that the minimum experience required for promotion to the post of Headmaster/Headmistress is 10(ten) years of service as a Graduate Teacher. The petitioner admittedly did not have the minimum period of teaching experience as a Graduate Teacher and as such, she was ineligible for being considered for the post of Headmistress. However, what is to be noted here is that the petitioner had not suppressed the said fact but had disclosed that she had joined her services and was drawing graduate scale of pay only w.e.f. 25.06.2014. The said application of the petitioner was considered with open eyes by the respondent authorities. Accordingly, the petitioner not being eligible for being considered in terms of the provisions of the Rules holding the field for promotion to the post of Headmistress, the order dated 25.09.2017 is not interfered with by this Court. Mr. Sarma has submitted that during the pendency of the present proceeding, the Inspector of Schools, Sonitpur District Circle, Tezpur has Page No.# 3/3 instituted a departmental proceeding against the petitioner by way of issuance of a show cause notice dated 28.09.2018 and the proceeding thereunder is still pending. Be that as it may, the same being a development not under challenge in the present proceeding, no opinion thereon is expressed by this Court. However, the order dated 25.09.2017 having been found to be issued validly, the writ petition is held to be without any merit and accordingly, the same stands dismissed. There will be no order as to cost. J U D G E Comparing Assistant