Roshidul Islam and 9 Ors v. The State of Assam and 7 Ors

ORDER

03.01.2024

Heard Mr. A.R. Bhuyan, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. B. Talukdar, learned Standing Counsel, Elementary Education Department appearing for respondent Nos.1 & 2 and Mr. D. Upamanyu, learned Standing Counsel, Health Department appearing for respondent Nos.3 to 8.

¶2The petitioners, by way of instituting the present proceedings, have presented a challenge to the verification exercise carried out by the Elementary Education Department through the Health Department of the State with regard to the specific disabilities possessed by each of the petitioners.

¶3The challenge is also made to the speaking order dated 01.09.2023 by which the cases of the petitioners were rejected on the ground that the petitioners have not appeared before the Verification Committee.

¶4The petitioners contend that the competent authorities, having examined their disabilities, have certified their disabilities and that too, to the extent that they met the benchmark prescribed, a subsequent examination thereof are not called for.

¶5Mr. D. Upamanyu, learned Standing Counsel, Health Department, responding to the said contention of the petitioners, have produced before this Court an Office Memorandum dated 21.05.2022 wherein in para 5, it has been Page No.# 4/5 provided that the disability certificate issued by the competent authority produced by intending candidate, in the event of selection of such candidate for any post under the Government of Assam, shall be subject to such verification/re-verification as may be decided by the competent authority.

¶6Mr. Upamanyu has also produced a copy of the order dated 18.12.2023 passed by this Court in WP(C) No.6977/2023 pertaining to the same very selection process. This Court after examining the matter and also noticing the provisions of the Office Memorandum dated 21.05.2022, disposed of the aforesaid writ petition (WP(C) No.6977/2023) with the following observations and directions: "By producing a copy of the Office Memorandum dated 21/05/2022 issued by the Government of Assam, Department of Personal, Dispur, more particularly, clause-5 of the O.M., Mr. Dhar further submits that it is permissible under the law to subject the candidates for verification/reassessment of their disability through a competent mechanism and hence, this exercise. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, this Court finds that although all the petitioners are holding Disability Certificates which project them as candidates suffering from "bench mark" disability, yet, it appears that as per the opinion of the specially constituted Medical Board, the disability of the writ petitioners have been found to be less than the "Bench Mark" criteria of 40% disability. There may be cases where the extent of disability of some of the candidates have undergone changes since the issuance of their Disability Certificates or there was some error in assessing their disability status either by the original authority issuing the Certificates or by the Specially Constituted Medical Board. However, the said aspect of the matter cannot be gone into by this Court unless the petitioners are communicated with the decision of the authorities in this regard, thereby, giving them an opportunity to assail such decision, on merit, if so advised. As such, without expressing any opinion on the stand of the learned departmental counsel or the findings and observations of the Medical Board, these writ petitions are being disposed of by directing the respondents to Page No.# 5/5 communicate the decision of the authorities pertaining to the individual disability status vis-à-vis their claim for appointment of each of the writ petitioners against the posts applied for, in writing, within four weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this Order. Liberty is granted to the writ petitioners to assail the decision of the Medical Board and/or Departments of Social Justice and Empowerment, by filing fresh writ petitions, if so advised."

¶7Mr. Upamany has submitted that the Medical Examination Reports of the petitioners have already been handed over to the counsel of the petitioners on

09.10.2023.

¶8Accordingly, following the directions as contained in the order dated

18.12.2023 passed in WP(C) No.6977/2023, this writ petition is disposed of requiring the petitioners to challenge the adverse medical recommendations made in their cases by the Medical Board constituted, pursuant to their selections for the posts in question by filing fresh writ petitions, if so advised.

¶9With the above observations, this writ petition stands closed.

JUDGE

Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010221152023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/5937/2023o ROSHIDULoISLAMoANDo9oORSo S/O-oGOLAMoSORROWAR,oVILL.-oBARTARY,oP.S.oKALGACHIA,oDIST.o BARPETA,oASSAM 2:oSHOHIDULoISLAM oS/O-oLATEoAFZALoHUSSAIN oVILL.-oKHARMUZA,oP.S.oGOALPARA oDIST.oGOALPARA,oASSAM 3:oMONIZAoKHATUN oD/O-oMUSHLEMoUDDINoAHMED oVILL.-oBERBHANGIoPT-II,oP.S.oGOLAKGANJ oDIST.oDHUBRI,oASSAM 4:oJUTIKAoDAS oD/O-oLATEoRAMESWARoROY oVILL.-oJALKHANAoPACHIMoKETRAPARA oP.S.oTIHU,oDIST.oNALBARI,oASSAM 5:oMD.oNAZMULoHOQUE oS/O-oLATEoJAHAoBOKSHO oVILL.-oDEKDHOWA,oP.S.oDUBAPARA oDIST.oGOALPARA,oASSAM 6:oMONIRoUDDINoAHMED oS/O-oNASERoALI oVILL.-oTARANGAPUR,oP.S.oLAKHIPUR oDIST.oGOALPARA,oASSAM 7:oBHIMOKALAoDEVI oD/O-oUTTAMoBAHADURoCHETRI oVILL.-oTHEKASUoPT-II,oP.S.oDUDHNOI oDIST.oGOALPARA,oASSAM PageoNo.#o2/5 8:oHIRUMANIoDAS oD/O-oNABINoDAS oVILL.-oHATHINAPUR,oP.S.oSARTHEBARI oDIST.oBARPETA,oASSAM 9:oJIARULoHOQUE oS/O-oNURULoHOQUE oVILL.-oKADAMGURI,oP.S.oHOWLY oDIST.oBARPETA,oASSAM 10:oNAZIRULoISLAMoPARAMANIK oS/O-oSHAHoALAMoPARAMANIK oVILL.-oSUPARIVITA,oP.S.oLAKHIPUR oDIST.oGOALPARA,oASSAMo VERSUSo 1.THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo7oORS.o TOoBEoREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEo GOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,oELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoDEPARTMENT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-6. 2:THEoDIRECTORoOFoELEMENTARYoEDUCATION,oASSAM oKAHILIPARA,oGUWAHATI-19. 3:THEoDIRECTORoOFoHEALTHoSERVICES,oASSAM oHENGRABARI,oGUWAHATI-36. 4:THEoMEDICALoBOARD oCONSTITUTEDoFORoTHEoPURPOSEoOFoVERIFICATIONoOFoPERSONSoWITHo DISABILITYoCANDIDATESoAToGMCH.o(oTOoBEoREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEo SUPERINTENDENToOFoGMCH,oGUWAHATI. 5:THEoDISTRICToMEDICALoBOARD,oBARPETA oCONSTITUTEDoFORoTHEoPURPOSEoOFoVERIFICATIONoOFoPERSONSoWITHo DISABILITYoCANDIDATES.o(TOoBEoREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCHAIRMAN oDISTRICToMEDICALoBOARD,oBARPETA,oASSAM). 6:THEoDISTRICToMEDICALoBOARD,oBARPETA oCONSTITUTEDoFORoTHEoPURPOSEoOFoVERIFICATIONoOFoPERSONSoWITHo DISABILITYoCANDIDATES.o(TOoBEoREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCHAIRMAN oDISTRICToMEDICALoBOARD,oDHUBRI,oASSAM 7:THEoJOINToDIRECTORoOFoHEALTHoSERVICES,oBARPETA,oASSAM 8:JOINToDIRECTORoOFoHEALTHoSERVICES,oDHUBRI,oASSAo Page No.# 3/5 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR A R BHUYAN Advocate for the Respondent : SC, ELEM. EDU – B E F O R E – HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE N. UNNI KRISHNAN NAIR