Gopal Bhowmik and 10 Ors v. The State of Assam and 5 Ors

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010193912023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/5182/2023o GOPALoBHOWMIKoANDo10oORSo S/OoLATEoSUDHIRoBHOWMIK,oR/OoKARIMGANJoTOWN,oBHAIRABTALA,o P.O.-SILCHARoROAD,oDIST-oKARIMGANJ,oASSAM,oPIN-788713 2:oSWAPANoPAUL oS/OoLATEoHARENDRAoCHANDRAoPAUL oR/OoVILL-EASToKANISHAIL oP.O.-KANISHAIL oDIST-KARIMGANJ oASSAM oPIN-788711 3:oABDULoKARIMoTAPADAR oS/OoLATEoASHAIDoALIoTAPADAR oR/OoVILL-oNAIRGRAM oP.O.-NAIRGRAM oDIST-KARIMGANJ oASSAM oPIN-788713 4:oABDUSoSALAM oS/OoLATEoISHAQUEoALI oR/OoVILL-oMOBARAKPUR oP.O.-SILCHARoROAD oDIST-oKARIMGANJ oASSAM oPIN-788713 5:oABDULoAHAD oS/OoLATEoABDUSoSAMAD oR/OoVILL-WESToKANISHAIL oP.O.-KANISHAIL oDIST-KARIMGANJ oASSAM PageoNo.#o2/5 oPIN-788711 6:oLUCKYoDAS oW/OoPINAKoDAS oR/OoKARIMGANJoTOWNoLAXMIoCHARANoROAD oP.O.-KARIMGANJ oDIST-oKARIMGANJ oASSAM oPIN-788710 7:oRUMAoBHOWMIK oW/OoGOPALoBHOWMIK oR/OoKARIMGANJoTOWNoBHAIRABTALA oP.O.-SILCHARoROAD oDIST-KARIMGANJ oASSAM oPIN-788713 8:oHIFZURoRAHMAN oS/OoLATEoABDULoMUTLIB oR/OoVILL-oDAYABASHANA oP.O.-KALIGANJoBAZAR oDIST-KARIMGANJ oASSAM oPIN-788713 9:oNIZAMoUDDIN oS/OoLATEoMAHMADoALI oR/OoVILL-oMIRZAPUR oP.O.-MIRZAPUR oDIST-oKARIMGANJ oASSAM oPIN-788701 10:oAMENAoBEGUM oW/OoABDULoMUTLIB oR/OoVILL-BHATGRAM oP.O.-SILCHARoROAD oDIST-KARIMGANJ oASSAM oPIN-788713 11:oKHUDEJAoBEGUM oD/OoLATEoHUNAFoALI oR/OoVILL-BHATGRAM oP.O.-SILCHARoROAD oDIST-KARIMGANJ oASSAM Page No.# 3/5 PIN-78871 VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 5 ORS. REPRESENTED BY THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF ASSAM, DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION, DISPUR, GUWAHATI-2:THE DIRECTOR SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSAM KAHILIPARA GUWAHATI-19 3:THE STATE LEVEL SCRUTINY COMMITTEE REPRESENTED BY ITS CHAIRMAN DIRECTOR OF SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSAM 4:THE INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS KDC KARIMGANJ P.O. AND DIST-KARIMGANJ ASSAM PIN-788710 5:THE DISTRICT SCRUTINY COMMITTEE KARIMGANJ REPRESENTED BY ITS CHAIRMAN THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER KARIMGANJ P.O. AND DIST-KAMRIMGANJ ASSAM PIN-788710 6:THE BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (SEBA) ASSAM REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY GUWAHATI-781021 DIST-KAMRUP (M) ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. M KHAN Advocate for the Respondent : SC, SEC. EDU.

Page No.# 4/5 BEFORE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ACHINTYA MALLA BUJOR BARUA O R D E R

20.11.2023

Heard Mr. M Khan, learned counsel for the petitioners, Mr. B Kaushik, learned counsel for the respondents in the Secondary Education Department, Government of Assam as well as Mr. Girin Pegu, learned Additional Senior Government Advocate for the Deputy Commissioner, Karimganj. None appears for the respondents in the SEBA.

¶2The petitioners herein are all teachers of Indira Memorial Girls High School, Mobarakpur in the Karimganj district and claims that all of them had been recommended under the Assam Education (Provincialisation of Services of Teachers and re-organization of Educational Institutions) Act, 2017 (in short Act of 2017) for provincialisation by the concerned District Scrutiny Committee. The limited grievance raised is that in spite of being so recommended and as required under the Rules, the recommendation of the District Scrutiny Committee had not been given its due consideration by the State Level Scrutiny Committee.

¶3In view of the limited grievance raised, we dispose of the writ petition directing the State Level Scrutiny Committee headed by the Director of Secondary Education, Assam to give a due consideration to the recommendation made by the District Scrutiny Committee available at page 52 Annexure-1 to the additional affidavit and pass a reasoned order thereon. By requiring the State Level Scrutiny Committee to pass a reasoned order, we are clarifying that we do not mean that it is a direction to the State Level Scrutiny Committee to approve Page No.# 5/5 the recommendation. But on the other hand, the requirement is for the State Level Scrutiny Committee to give a due consideration and pass a reasoned order thereon.

¶4Although an appeal under section 14 of the Act of 2017 had been filed by the petitioner, but we are of the view that the said appeal would be premature as an appeal would be maintainable only after the rejection of the recommendation of the District Scrutiny Committee by the State Level Scrutiny Committee. In the event, the decision of the State Level Scrutiny Committee is against the petitioner, liberty would remain with the petitioner to file appropriate appeal under section 14 of the Act of 2017, if so advised.

¶5The reasoned order be passed by the State Level Scrutiny Committee within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. The writ petition is disposed of as indicated above. JUDGE Comparing Assistant