Biswajit Sarma and 19 Ors v. The State of Assam and 5 Ors

PageoNo.#o1/8 GAHC010188212023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/5114/2023o BISWAJIToSARMAoANDo19oORSo S/OoLATEoKHARGESWARoSARMA,o(RETIREDoHINDIoMASTERoOFo RAMKRISHNAoASHRAMoVIDYAPITHoM.E.oSCHOOL),oR/OoVILL-oLAKHIPURo FESHERTARIo(THANAMOR),oP.O.-LAKHIPUR,oP.S.-LAKHIPUR,oDIST-GOALPARA,oASSAM,oPIN-783129 2:oABDULoBATENoMIAH oS/OoLATEoASROFoALIo(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoJAMIRABARIoM.E.o MADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-CHAKLAoNATHoPARA oP.O.-BASHABARI oP.S.-BAGUAN 3:oMAKRAMoALIo@oMUKAMoALI oS/OoLATEoSAMSERoALI o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoHALDIBARIoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-oHALDIBARI oP.O.-DHUMERGHAT oDIST-oGOALPARA 4:oABDURoROHIMoMIAH oS/OoLATEoABDULoHAMID o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoROWKHOWAoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-MOTHABARI oP.O.-JOYBHUM oP.S.-BAGUAN PageoNo.#o2/8 5:oABDULoHAI oS/OoLATEoNOSERoUDDINoSHEIKH o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoTAKIMARIoMAMUDPURoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-LEZAM oP.O.-CHUNARI 6:oMOZORoALIoMONDAL oS/OoLATEoSADERoALIoMONDAL o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoBHERBHERYoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-KHALISAVITA 7:oWAZEDoALIoMONDAL oS/OoLATEoMOKSEDoALI o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoSHAHAMMADoALIoMEMORIALoM.E.o MADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-KHALISAVITA oP.O.-KHALISAVITA 8:oABDULoWAHABoAHMED oS/OoLATEoMOKSEDoALIoKHAN o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoMESERBHITAoGIRLSoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-MESERBHITA oP.O.-MESERBHITA 9:oMOHAMMADoALIoMONDAL oS/OoLATEoABDULoJUBBARoMONDAL o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoHURKACHUNGIoM.E.oSCHOOL) oR/OoVILL-HASHDOBA oP.O.-HASHDOBA PageoNo.#o3/8 10:oABDULoRAHMAN oS/OoLATEoBODORUDDIN o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoSIMLABARIoM.E.oSCHOOL) oR/OoVILL-CHARALJHAR oP.O.-KHALISABHITA 11:oABDUSoSALAMoMIAH oS/OoLATEoHAJIoJALALoUDDIN o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoCHAIBARIoM.E.oSCHOOL) oR/OoVILL-JOYBHUM oP.O.-JOYBHUM 12:oMOFIZoUDDINoAHMED oS/OoLATEoMOLANoALIoSHEIKH o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoKURSHAPAKRIoCHILARAIoM.E.oSCHOOL) oR/OoVILL-HURKACHUNGI oP.O.-HASHDOBA 13:oABDULoQUDDUSo@oKUDDUS oS/OoLATEoMOZIBURoRAHMAN o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoTULSHIBARIoM.E.oSCHOOL) oR/OoVILL-HASHDOBA oP.O.-HASHDOBA 14:oABDULoBASERoMIAH oS/OoLATEoGOLAPoUDDIN o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoGHUGUDOBAoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-CHULKANIPARA PageoNo.#o4/8 oP.O.-TAKIMARI 15:oANOWARoHUSSAINoBHUYAN oS/OoLATEoBAXAoULLAH o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoSHALDOWAoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-SHALDOWA oP.O.-GAURNAGAR 16:oABDULoAWALoMIAH oS/OoLATEoABULoKASHEMoMIAH o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoSISHUJYOTIoM.E.oSCHOOL oLAKHIPURoTOWN) oR/OoVILL-KATARIHARA oP.O.-KATARIHARA 17:oABDURoRAHIMoMIAH oS/OoLATEoNURoUDDINoSHEIKH o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoCHATAPARAoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-WESToKATHURI oP.O.-RAJMITA 18:oANOWARoHUSSAINoPARAMANIK oS/OoLATEoKAIMUSALoPARAMANIK o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoJALESWARoBILLoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-JALESWARoBILL oP.O.-JALESWAR 19:oSULTANoMAHMUD PageoNo.#o5/8 oS/OoLATEoFOYEZoUDDINoMUNSHI o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoHAGURIPARAoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-BAPURVITAoPART-II oP.O.-DHAMOAR oP.S.-BAGUAN 20:oMOINULoHOQUE oS/OoLATEoANOWARoALIoSARKAR o(RETIREDoHEADoMASTERoOFoKILLAHARAoM.E.oMADRASSA) oR/OoVILL-CHIRAKUTA oP.O.-CHIRAKUTA oP.S.-CHAPAR oDIST-DHUBRI oPIN-78337o VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo5oORSo TOoBEoREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEo GOVT.oOFoASSAM,oELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoDEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,o GUWAHATI,oPIN-781006 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFo ASSAM oFINANCEo(ESTT.-A)oDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI oPIN-781006 3:THEoDIRECTORoOFoELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI oPIN-781021 4:THEoDISTRICToELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoOFFICER oGOALPARA oP.O. oP.S.oANDoDIST-GOALPARA oPIN-783101 5:THEoBLOCKoELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoOFFICER Page No.# 6/8 LAKHIPUR EDUCATION BLOCK AT LAKHIPUR P.O. AND P.S.-LAKHIPUR DIST-GOALPARA ASSAM PIN-783371 6:THE DY. INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS GOALPARA ASSAM P.O. P.S. AND DIST-GOALPARA ASSAM PIN-78310 Advocate for the Petitioner : Ms. R. R. BORAH Advocate for the Respondent : SC, ELEM. EDU

BEFORE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANASH RANJAN PATHAK 08/09/2023 Heard Mr. A A R Karim, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. P N Sarma, learned Standing counsel, Department of School (Elementary) Education for the respondent Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5 &

¶6Also heard Mr. A Chaliha, learned Standing counsel, Finance Department for the respondent No. 2.

¶2Petitioners herein are retired Headmasters/Hindi Teachers of different provincialised M.E. Schools/M.E. Madrassas in the District of Goalpara.

¶3It is contended by the petitioners that at the time of their retirement from service, the petitioners had 196 to 268 days leave in their credit.

¶4It is submitted that all the Headmasters/Hindi Teachers served in the vacation Department, i.e. Education Department of the State under the Directorate of Elementary Education, Assam till their retirement from service on attaining the age of superannuation.

¶5However, it is alleged that after their retirement from service, the respondents paid them their Leave Encashment Benefit for specific numbers of days, but did not release the cash equivalent of their earned leaves to the extent of 300 days as entitled by them, similar to that of the Government Page No.# 7/8 employees of non-vacation Departments. Hence, this writ petition by the petitioners praying for a direction to the respondents to pay them the leave encashment benefit for the maximum period of 300 days.

¶6This Court by its Judgment & Order dated 2nd June, 2011, passed in the case of Khagendra Nath Deka & Others -Vs-State of Assam & Others [WP(C) No. 9851 of 2003] reported in 2011 (5) GLT 9 have held that those employees who belonged to vacation Department are also equally entitled to leave encashment to the extent of 300 days and cannot be limited to 80 days.

¶7Pursuant to the said Judgment and Order dated 02.06.2011, the State Government in the Finance (ESTT-A) Department vide No. FEG.4/2000/153 dated 03.03.2012 issued an Office Memorandum clarifying that the benefit of unutilized leave encashment at the credit on the date of retirement on superannuation will be admissible to the employees of the vacation Department to the extent of permissible days, as in force, at the relevant period, for the employees of the non-vacation Department.

¶8Learned counsels appearing for both the parties have accepted that the present matter is covered by the decision of this Court dated 02.06.2011 passed in WP(C) No.9851/2003 noted above, i.e., Khagendra Nath Deka (supra) and the consequential Office Memorandum dated 03.03.2012 of the Finance Department of the State. Petitioners have also placed that following the said Judgment & Order dated 02.06.2011 passed in WP(C) No. 9851/2003, this Court has also passed similar orders on

08.08.2016 in W.P.(C) No. 4728/2014 and 18.02.2019 in W.P.(C) No. 1733/2019.

¶9After hearing the learned counsels for the parties and considering the entire aspect of the matter, this writ petition is disposed of directing the petitioners to file individual representations before the District Elementary Education Officer, Goalpara respondent No. 4 on or before 22.09.2023 giving the details of their claim pertaining to the leave encashment benefit along with the certified copy of this order, all the relevant documents including the copy of this writ petition and the Annexures appended thereto, obtaining necessary acknowledgment from the said authority in that regard.

¶10In the event of filing such representation by the petitioners, within the said specified time, as directed above, the District Elementary Education Officer, Goalpara respondent No. 4 shall release the cash equivalent of their earned leaves to the petitioners as per their entitlement in terms of the Judgment & Order dated 02.06.2011 passed in WP(C) No. 9851/2003 and the Office Memorandum No. FEG.4/2000/153 dated 03.03.2012 of the Finance (ESTT-A) Department of the State, to the extent Page No.# 8/8 of 300 days, less the cash equivalents already paid to them, after making necessary enquiry, within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the representation to be submitted by the petitioners before the said authority along with the certified copy of this order.

¶11With the aforesaid observation and direction, this writ petition stands disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant