Deb Das Saha v. The State of Assam and 7 Ors

ORDER Date : 23.06.2023 Heard Ms. A.Bujarbaruah, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. S.Neoge, learned standing counsel, Secondary Education for the respondent Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 6; Mr. G.Pegu, learned Govt. Advocate for respondent No.4 and Mr. A.Phukan, learned standing counsel for the respondent No.5

¶2The petitioner's school namely Swahid Chandan Singh High School, Nagaon district was established in the year 1982 and thereafter, the petitioner was appointed as a Lower Division Assistant on 12.12.1986. On a decision taken by the School Management Committee, the petitioner was again appointed as Assistant Teacher (undergraduate) on the same day i.e., 12.12.1986. In the mean time, petitioner acquired the B.A Degree in 1995 from the Gauhati University as well as B.Ed Degree in 2003. The School of the petitioner was provincialised on 01.03.2013. However, the case of the petitioner was left out from provincialization and the service of the respondent No.8 was provincialised in his place. It is the claim of the petitioner that he is senior to the respondent No.8 and the respondent No.8 does not have a B.Ed Degree. Page No.# 3/3

¶3In the meantime, the State respondents enacted the Assam Education (Provincialisation of Services of Teachers and Re-organization of Educational Institutions), Act 2017, (Act of 2017 in short) and under the said Act, process for provincialization of teaching and non-teaching staffs of various schools were taken up. The District Scrutiny Committee, Nagaon also considered the case of the petitioner and recommended his case for the second post as Assistant Teacher. As the case of the petitioner has not been considered by the State Level Scrutiny Committee the petitioner is before this Court by way of the present writ petition. During pendency of this writ petition, petitioner also filed an appeal under Section 14 of the Act of 2017 on 10.10.2022 before the State Level Scrutiny Committee.

¶4As the case of the petitioner was not considered by the State Level Scrutiny Committee after being recommended by the District Scrutiny Committee, this Court is of the considered opinion that the petitioner has made the appeal under Section 14 of the Act of 2017 before the wrong forum, inasmuch as, the said appeal should have been filed before the State Government against the decision of the State Level Scrutiny Committee.

¶5Accordingly, this writ petition is disposed of directing the petitioner to file a fresh appeal under Section 14 of the Act of 2017 before the Secretary, School Education Department within a period of 2(two) weeks from today. Thereafter the Secretary, School Education Department on receipt of the appeal shall consider and dispose of the same after giving a personal hearing to the petitioner as well as the respondent No.8 by a speaking order and in accordance with law within a period of 1(one) month from the date of receipt of the appeal.

¶6With the above observations and directions, this writ petition is disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/3 GAHC010213552021 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/6922/2021o DEBoDASoSAHAo S/O.oLT.oCHANDRAoMOHANoSAHAo@oCHANDRAoMADHABoSAHA,oVILL.o PRANABoNAGAR,oP.O.oHUZoRANGHAGARA,oDIST.oNAGAON,oASSTT.o TEACHERoOFoSWAHIDoCHANDANoSINGHoHIGHoSCHOOL. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo7oORSo REP.oBYoTHEoCOMM.oANDoSECY.oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oSECONDARYo EDUCATIONoDEPTT.,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI-781006. 2:THEoDEPUTYoSECRETARY oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oSECONDARYoEDUCATIONoDEPTT. 3:THEoDIRECTORoOFoSECONDARYoEDUCATION oASSAM oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI-19. 4:THEoDISTRICToSCRUTINYoCOMMITTEE oREP.oTHROUGHoITSoCHAIRMAN oTHEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oNAGAONoDIST. oASSAM oPIN-782001. 5:THEoDISTRICToELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoOFFICER oDIST.oNAGAON oASSAM oPIN-782001. 6:THEoINSPECTORoOFoSCHOOL oNAGAONoDISTRICToCIRCLE oNAGAON Page No.# 2/3 ASSAM PIN-782001. 7:SMTI SIKHAMALA BOARH THE HEADMISTRESS OF SWAHID CHANDAN SINGH HIGH SCHOOL MAJARATI NAGAON ASSAM PIN-782002. 8:PRABITRA BORA ASSTT. TEACHER OF SWAHID CHANDAN SINGH HIGH SCHOOL MAJARATI NAGAON ASSAM PIN-782002 Advocate for the Petitioner : MRS A BUJARBARUAH Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE LANUSUNGKUM JAMIR