Ashish Kumar Saha vs State Of West Bengal & Ors

Samapti Chatterjee, J

Affidavit of service filed by the petitioner be kept on record.

Leave as prayed for, is granted to the petitioner to implead the concerned Treasury Officer as party respondent no. 10 to this writ proceedings here and now.

Petitioner has filed the present writ petition for disbursement of pensionary benefit and other admissible dues.

Mr. Lahiri, learned advocate appearing for the petitioner submits that this is a matter whereby the petitioner prays for releasing pensionary benefit with effect from March, 2015 as the petitioner rendered service in the post of Secretary of Gram Panchayat till 28.2.2015. In this respect some correspondence have been exchanged amongst the authorities to which Court attention has been drawn by the learned advocate of the petitioner.

From Annexure P-5, which is a letter of the Assistant Director of Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance (PPG, in short), wherein the said Assistant Director stated that condonation order for relaxation of overage at entry into service is to be obtained from the Panchayat and Rural Development Department and to be furnished to the said PPG, if the appointment is not supported by any Court order.

From a subsequent letter dated 16.4.2015 written by the BDO of the concerned Block to the District Panchayat and Rural Development Officer, it is found that the petitioner was appointed on 17.12.1996 when his age was forty one years ten months when the petitioner crossed the age limit for State Government Service. The petitioner is a Member of the Scheduled Caste Community. From Another letter of the District Panchayat and Rural Development Officer (DPRDO, in short) dated 24.4.2015 written to the Commissioner, Panchayat and Rural Development Office, it is found that the said Panchayat and Rural Development Officer has requested the Commissioner to take necessary action for condonation order for relaxation of overage in favour of the petitioner.

From another letter dated 28.7.2016 issued by the District Secretary, PRI Cell, issued to the DPRDO, it is found that the said Deputy Secretary was asking for details of the recruitment process from which the petitioner got appointment.

Such details of recruitment process were not sent. From another letter of the DPRDO, dated 11.6.2018, it is found that the said DPRDO has requested the BDO to send him for detailed information of present status of claim of the writ petitioner and requested him further to submit a compilation report, if available.

Why the Office of the DPRDO maintained silence in respect of the letter of the Deputy Secretary of PRI Cell dated 28.7.2016 is not understood at all.

The Office of the DPRDO sat tight over the letter dated 28.7.2016 for nearly two years and then wrote a wholly meaningless letter dated 11.6.2018 to the BDO.

The DPRDO, Birbhum is directed to explain by way of an affidavit to be filed before this Court through learned State advocate explaining why such delay was made in respect of the direction of the Deputy Secretary contained in his letter dated 28.7.2016.

By a letter dated 8.8.2018, the DPRDO requested the BDO to send a competent person along with the documents relating to the recruitment process of the petitioner as Secretary of Gram Panchayat. In response to his letter and also in respect of the letter of the Deputy Secretary dated 28.7.2016, the concerned BDO sent a reply to the DPRDO dated 3.10.2018 wherein he has stated that no documents are found relating to the recruitment process of the petitioner.

The learned advocate for the petitioner has submitted that when he applied for the post and when he appeared for the interview he was within the age of getting appointment in the post. The appointment was delayed by nearly two years which is also supported from the documents annexed to the writ application especially from Annexure P-7, which is a letter of the DPRDO dated 24.4.2015.

The petitioner has also submitted that he is not the custodian of records and if the relevant records cannot be produced by the concerned authority favourable presumption should be done in his case.

The learned advocate for the State has prayed for two weeks time to come with instruction and he says that despite his request no instructions was sent to him.

Accordingly, on the last occasion, this Court directed the respondent authority to file a report.

Pursuant to this order today Mr. Lahiri is filing the report. It is revealed from the report that the petitioner is entitled to get the retiral benefits along with all admissible dues.

Some relevant portion of the letter dated 16th April, 2019 issued by the District Panchayat and Rural Development Officer, Birbhum to the Commissioner, Panchayat and Rural Development, West Bengal is quoted below:-"The above noted petition has been filed on 07.01.2019 by Mr. Ashis Kumar Saha. His service was placed at Amdole Gram Panchayat and his Service Book is maintained at the office of the Block Development Officer, Mararai-II Development Block and therefore immediately after the receipt of the copy of the said petition a letter vide Memo No. 80/DPRDO, dated 17.01.2019(Enclo-I) have been forwarded to the BDO, Murarai-II requesting him to prepare the Para-wise Statement of facts and to contact with the Ld. State Advocates already engaged. The Deputy Secretary(PRI Cell), Panchayats and Rural Development Department forwarded a letter vide Memo No. 1923/PN/O/III/2E-55/2015, dated 28.07.2016(Enclo-2) requesting this end to furnish the details of recruitment process. On 11.06.2018 this office sent a letter vide Momo No. 743/DPRDO, dated 11.06.2018(Enclo-3) to the Block Dev. Officer, Murarai-II Dev Block requesting him to send a competent person from his office with detailed information of present status of the claim and also to furnish a compilation report if available at this end. On the same date i.e. on 11.06.2018 I have taken over the charge of my office as DP & RDO, Birbhum.

As no records relating to this recruitment made in the year 1996 was available at my office I again forwarded a letter of reminder vide a Memo No. 1102/DPRDO, dated 08.08.2018(Enclo-4) to the BDO, Murarai-II Dev Block for the reply of the earlier letter dated 11.06.2018 and also again requested the BDO, Murarai-II to send a competent person alongwith documents related to the recruitment process. But non appeared from concerned BDO office.

Thereafter the BDO, Murarai-II Dev. Block vide his Memo No. 1721/MRR-II, dated 03.10.2018(Enclo-5) replied that no documents relating to the recruitment process was found despite prolonged search.

One finding no other means of getting these documents relating to the recruitment process and to reconfirm about the non-availability of documents I again sent a letter vide a Memo No. 33/DPRDO, dated 09.01.2019(Enclo-6) requesting the BDO, Murarai-II to submit the detailed statement of the procedure of appointment in the service as on early date.

The BDO, Murarai-II again vide a Memo No. 783/MRR-II, dated 16.04.2019(Enclo-7) replied that after prolonged and careful search no documents has been found regarding his appointment at the office of the BDO, Murarai-II Dev. Block.

It is a fact that the office of the DP & RDO, Birbhum does not have any documents relating to the recruitment process of Sri Ashis Kumar Saha, Ex-Secretary, Amdole Gram Panchayat under Murarai-II Dev. Block, Birbhum, except the appointment order of the District Magistrate, Birbhum vide his Memo No. 8413(4)/P, dated 16.12.1996(Enclo-8).

Therefore, in the above noted circumstances appropriate measures may be taken from your end for the release of retirement benefits of Sri Ashis Kumar Saha, Ex-Secretary, Amdole Gram Panchayat".

Considering the submission as advanced by Mr. Lahiri and after perusing the records as well as the letter dated 16th April, 2019 in this upshot, I direct the respondent no. 3, the Commissioner, Panchayat and Rural Development, West Bengal and the respondent no. 9, the Director of Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance to take steps for disbursement of the petitioner's retiral benefits along with other admissible dues without any further delay but positively within eight weeks from the date of communication of this order.

The letter dated 16th April, 2019 and the Governor's order dated 9th September, 2019 submitted by the learned advocate for the petitioner be kept on record.

With this direction, the writ petition is disposed of.

There will be no order as to costs.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the parties on priority basis.