Anu Probha Patowary v. The State of Assam and 7 Ors

ORDER Date : 04.11.2024 Heard Mr. M. Ali, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. P. K. Bora, learned Standing counsel, Elementary Education Department for the respondent Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6 and Mr. B. Deuri, learned Government Advocate, Page No.# 3/4 Assam for the respondent No. 4.

¶2The petitioner was initially appointed as Assistant Teacher (Social Science) pursuant to a resolution of the School Managing Committee of the Sontali M. E. School. Thereafter, the authorities took steps for provincialisation of the Teaching and Non-teaching staffs of the said Sontali M. E. School in terms of the Assam Education (Provincialisation of Services of Teachers and Re-organisation of Educational Institutions) Act of 2017 (the Act of 2017 in short). The name of the petitioner, however, was not recommended by the District Scrutiny Committee. However, the services of the respondent Nos. 7 & 8 were provincialised by an order dated 05.02.2021.

¶3It is the case of the petitioner that the respondent No. 7 is an English teacher and the respondent No. 8 is an Assamese teacher and therefore, in terms of Section 3(1)(xi) of the Act, 2017 only 1 (one) subject teacher can be provincialised. However, 2 (two) language teachers were provincialised and the petitioner was illegally dropped by the District Scrutiny Committee.

¶4The petitioner therefore preferred an appeal under Section 14 of the Act of 2017 before the State Level Scrutiny Committee on 14.09.2023.

¶5The grievance of the petitioner is that till date the appeal filed by the petitioner is still pending disposal before the State Level Scrutiny Committee.

¶6This Court, after hearing the parties and taking into consideration that the appeal filed by the petitioner before the State Level Scrutiny Committee is still pending, this writ petition is disposed of directing the State Level Scrutiny Committee to consider the appeal filed by the petitioner on 14.09.2023 and disposed of the same by a speaking order and in accordance with law. While disposing of the appeal filed by the petitioner, the State Level Scrutiny Page No.# 4/4 Committee shall hear the petitioner as well as the respondent Nos. 7 & 8 in person.

¶7Let such exercise be done and completed within a period of 2 (two) months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

¶8With the above observations and directions, this writ petition is disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010220852024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/5551/2024o ANUoPROBHAoPATOWARYo D/O-oLATEoTARUNoCH.oPATOWARY,o VILLAGE-oNIZDAMAKA,o P.O.-oSORBHOG,o P.S.-oSORBHOG,o DIST.-oBARPETA,oASSAM,o PIN-o781317. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo7oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.o OFoASSAM,o EDUCATIONo(ELEMENTARY)oDEPARTMENT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-6. 2:THEoSTATEoLEVELoSCRUTINYoCOMMITTEE oREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoDIRECTORoOFoELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oASSAM KAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI-19. 3:THEoDIRECTORoOFoELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oASSAM oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI-19. 4:THEoDISTRICToSCRUTINYoCOMMITTEEoFORoELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oREPRESENTEDoBYoITSoCHAIRMANoCUMoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONERoOFo BARPETAoDISTRICT o ASSAM Page No.# 2/4 PIN- 781301. 5:THE DISTRICT ELEMENTARY EDUCATION OFFICER BARPETA DIST.- BARPETA ASSAM PIN- 781301. 6:THE BLOCK ELEMENTARY EDUCATION OFFICER RUPSHI DIST.- BARPETA ASSAM PIN- 781316. 7:GOJEN DAS TUTOR OF SONTALI M.E. SCHOOL VILL- NIZ DOMOKA P.O. AND P.S.- SORBHOG DIST- BARPETA ASSAM PIN- 781317. 8:BANIKANTA DAS TUTOR OF SONTALI M.E. SCHOOL VILL- NIZ DOMOKA P.O. AND P.S.- SORBHOG DIST- BARPETA ASSAM PIN- 781317 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. M ALI, MD. ANARUL ISLAM,MR J. E. SARKAR Advocate for the Respondent : SC, ELEM. EDU, GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE LANUSUNGKUM JAMIR