Karunamay Bhattacharyya v. The State of Assam and 3 Ors

ORDER Date : 22.01.2024

Heard Mr. L. Gogoi, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. N. J. Khataniar, learned standing counsel appearing on behalf of the Secondary Education Department.

¶2The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner was illegally terminated from the service on 24.04.2008. This Court, vide an order dated 24.06.2014 passed in WP(C)/1916/2008, set aside the said termination order. It further appears from the record that vide the order dated 16.09.2014, the Inspector of Schools, NDC, Nalbari directed the Principal of the School in question to allow the petitioner to resume duty so as to enable him to complete the process of de novo proceedings till the final decision was taken in compliance to the order passed by this Court in WP(C) No.1916/2008. Thereupon, the petitioner was allowed to resume his duty from 17.09.2014 and the petitioner was accordingly disbursed salaries therefrom.

¶3The instant writ petition has been filed claiming the arrear salary for the period from 12.05.2008 to 16.09.2014, i.e. from the date of termination of the petitioner vide order dated 24.04.2008 till the date on which the Inspector of Schools, NDC, Nalbari directed the Principal of the School to allow the petitioner to resume duty. The petitioner is further aggrieved by the inaction on the part of Page No.# 3/4 the respondent authorities in not making payment of his salary for the period from 01.12.2006 to 13.05.2008.

¶4This Court vide the order dated 20.12.2022 had issued notice thereby observing that the pendency of this writ petition shall not be a bar for the respondent authorities for payment of arrear salaries to the petitioner, but in accordance with law and as per due entitlement of the petitioner, if there are no other impediments in releasing the same to him.

¶5The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Secondary Education Department has placed an instruction issued by the Director of Secondary Education Department to the Secretary, Government of Assam, Department of School Education, wherein it has been mentioned that as per the speaking order of the Government the arrear salary of the petitioner with effect from

12.05.2008 to 16.09.2014 cannot be considered. However, it was mentioned that the petitioner may be entitled to the arrear salary for the service period w.e.f. 01.12.2006 to 13.05.2008.

¶6Mr. L. Gogoi, learned counsel for the petitioner has drawn the attention of this Court to the judgment and order dated 23.09.2022 passed by the Division Bench of this Court in WA No.211/2019 (Dipali Barman vs. the State of Assam and others) wherein a similar question arose as regards the entitlement of the salary during the period when the appellant therein was under termination. The learned counsel for the petitioner has drawn the attention to the paragraphs No.14, 15, 16 & 17 of the said judgment and submits that the Director of Secondary Education Department was therefore directed by the Division Bench of this Court to release the arrear salary of the appellant therein and process the same for the period from 12.05.2008 to 16.09.2014, and after quantifying the same to disburse the arrear salary to the appellant therein within a period of Page No.# 4/4 three months from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the judgment and order.

¶7I have heard the learned counsels for the parties. Upon perusal of the materials on record including the judgment passed by the Division Bench in the case of Dipali Barman (supra), this Court is of the opinion that the facts involved in the instant case are similar, and as such, the petitioner therefore would be entitled to the arrear salary for the period from 12.05.2008 to 16.09.2014, i.e. the period when the petitioner's services were terminated on account of an illegal order passed by the Inspector of Schools. Further, taking into account the instructions so placed by the Director of Secondary Education Department, this Court is of the opinion that the petitioner would also be entitled to the arrear salary w.e.f. 01.12.2006 to 13.05.2008.

¶8Under such circumstances, this Court, therefore, disposes of the instant writ petition holding that the petitioner would be entitled to the arrear salary for the period from 01.12.2006 to 13.05.2008 as well as 12.05.2008 to 16.09.2014. The said payment should be made within a period of 3 (three) months from the date a certified copy of the instant order is served upon the respondent No.3.

¶9The instructions so placed by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Secondary Education Department is kept on record.

10.Writ petition is accordingly disposed of in terms of the above.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010259842022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/8156/2022o KARUNAMAYoBHATTACHARYYAo S/O-oLATEoNAGENDRAoNARAYANoBHATTACHARYYA,o R/O-oWARDoNO-3,o BIDYAPUR,oNALBARIoTOWN,o DIST-oNALBARI,oASSAM,oPIN-781335 VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo3oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEo GOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,oDEPARTMENToOFoSECONDARYoEDUCATION,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-o781006,oASSAM. 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARY oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM o FINANCEoDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-o781006 oASSAM. 3:THEoDIRECTORoOFoSECONDARYoEDUCATION oKAHILIPARAo oGUWAHATI oPIN-781019 oASSAM. 4:THEoINSPECTORoOFoSCHOOLS oNALBARIoDISTRICToCIRCLE oNALBARI o PIN-o781335 Page No.# 2/4 ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. L GOGOI Advocate for the Respondent : SC, SEC. EDU. BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SOUMITRA SAIKIA