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Judgment
Heard Mr. S. Hussain, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. N. Sarma, learned standing counsel for the Elementary Education
Department.
Office note dated 23.05.2017 indicates that A/D card had been received from the respondent No.5 and on perusal of the A/D card, it is noticed that
notice had duly been served on the respondent No.5 school on 11.09.2013. None appears for the respondent No.5 till date although five years had
elapsed since service of notice. In the circumstance, this Court deems it appropriate that the matter be proceeded in the absence of the respondent
No.5. In any view of the matter, the order that is proposed to be passed would take care of the respondent No.5 also inasmuch as the Director of
Elementary Education would be required to issue notice to him.
The Kacharitilla Venture L.P. School in the Hailakandi district was established in the year 1972 with one Siraj Uddin Choudhury as the Headmaster
and the present writ petitioner Anam Uddin Borbhuiya was appointed as an Assistant Teacher on 14.10.1989. As the location of the school was on a
low marshy land, it was relocated to another plot of land which was donated by the father of Anam Uddin Borbhuiya as per registered deed dated
15.11.1991. On 17.12.1991, Siraj Uddin Choudhury resigned as the Headmaster of the school. On his resignation, the managing committee of the
school by resolution dated 25.12.1991 had resolved to appoint the petitioner as the Headmaster and directed Siraj Uddin Choudhury to hand over the
records. But however Siraj Uddin Choudhury did not hand over the earlier records of the school prior to 1992 and in turn formed a new managing
committee on 15.01.1992. Accordingly, there exists two schools one located in the relocated land donated by Md. Abus Ali Barbhuiyan and another
school which was restarted by Siraj Uddin Choudhury.
In the aforesaid premises, the school operated by Siraj Uddin Choudhury was provincialised w.e.f. 18.01.1995. The said provincialisation of the
school headed by Siraj Uddin Choudhury is being assailed on the ground that the school operated by the petitioner is the genuine school whereas, the
school operated by Siraj Uddin Choudhury is a fake school.
Being aggrieved, the petitioners preferred an earlier petition being Civil Rule No.1056/1994, which was disposed of by the order dated 30.09.1996
requiring the respondent authorities to make further enquiry into the matter and arrive at a finding as to whether the claim of the writ petitioner that
Siraj Uddin Choudhury had resigned and that the petitioner was appointed as the Headmaster was correct or not. Pursuant to the said order of the
Court, an enquiry report was made by the Deputy Inspector of School dated 19.06.2003, wherein, a conclusion was arrived that the petitioner Anam
Uddin Borbhuiya was the second original teacher of Kacharitilla Venture L.P. School and that he be regularized by way of adjustment against a
vacant post on humanitarian ground. Thereupon, another enquiry was conducted by the Director of Elementary Education, Assam wherein, Siraj
Uddin Choudhury was required to produce the proceeding of the relevant period from 1992-1993. But he did not produce the same.
Accordingly, when the Director took up the matter with the authorities in the Government, an investigation was initiated by the District Administration
as to which one between the two schools is the genuine school. The said exercise ultimately culminated in a report from the Block Elementary
Education Officer, Hailakandi dated 20.01.2011, wherein, an opinion was formed that the school operated by the petitioner was the actual school.
Another report was submitted by the Block Elementary Education Officer dated 16.06.2011, wherein, it was stated that the school operated by Siraj
Uddin Choudhury is a fake school and it was running in a private house with a few students and that in the meantime, both the Siraj Uddin Choudhury
and the other teacher namely Fakiruddin Laskar were transferred to some other school. Accordingly, the Deputy Commissioner by a letter dated
05.12.2011 informed the government that the school operated by the petitioner as the Headmaster is the genuine school. Accordingly, the said letter of
the Deputy Commissioner dated 05.12.2011 informing that the school operated by the petitioner is a genuine school, was forwarded by the
Government to the Director of Elementary Education for due consideration and taking a final decision in the matter.
Notice is also taken of another report dated 18.06.2014 submitted by the District Elementary Education Officer, Hailakandi wherein also a
categorical conclusion was arrived that the school operated by Siraj Uddin Choudhury as Headmaster is enjoying the benefits of provincialisation of
service by duping the authorities and depriving the actual claimants from such benefit.
In the aforesaid circumstance, this writ petition has been preferred for a direction to the respondent authorities to provincialise the Kacharitilla
Venture L.P. School at Ujankuppa, Pt-III, Hailakandi, of which the petitioner is the Headmaster and that such provincialisation be directed on the
basis of the aforesaid reports submitted by the authorities as indicated above.
The state respondents have filed affidavit-in-opposition wherein, in paragraph-8, a stand had been taken that the school headed by Anam Uddin
Borbhuiya i.e. the petitioner is the genuine school. Further stand has been taken that the authorities could not take any further steps as because in the
meantime Siraj Uddin Choudhury had been transferred to another school and other teacher Fakiruddin Laskar is also working in other school also
transferred. A further stand has been taken that the show cause notices have been issued to the Deputy Inspector of School, Hailakandi and Siraj
Uddin Choudhury as per notices both dated 08.03.2018 and 08.03.2018 respectively.
In the aforesaid premises, this Court is of the view that as per the reports submitted by the BEEO, the DEEO as well as Deputy Commissioner and
also the affidavit of the state respondents, it is an admitted position of the authorities that the school operated by the petitioner is the genuine school,
but no action has been taken by the respondent authorities as because in the meantime, Siraj Uddin Choudhury and other teacher Fakiruddin Laskar
were transferred to some other school and further appropriate notices had been issued to Siraj Uddin Choudhury and others.
In the considered view, merely because Siraj Uddin Choudhury had been transferred to another school and that show cause notices had been
issued to him cannot stand on the way of the Director of Elementary Education, Assam to take an appropriate decision as to the entitlement of the
petitioner school along with its teachers for being provincialised. For doing so, the Director shall give due consideration to the aforesaid reports of the
BEEO, DEEO, the Deputy Commissioner and also the affidavit of the state respondents, which categorically provides that the petitioner school is the
genuine school. As this order has been passed in the absence of Siraj Uddin Choudhury, the Director shall also issue notice to Siraj Udidin Choudhury
as well as to the teachers of the school operated by Siraj Uddin Choudhury, which is stated to be a fake school. Upon issuing notice, all the three
parties, i.e. the petitioner, Siraj Uddin Choudhoury, and the teacher of the fake Kacharitilla L.P. School shall be given an opportunity of hearing and be
allowed to produce any relevant material that they may desire to produce.
But in doing so, the Director of Elementary Education, Assam shall also give due consideration to the aforesaid reports of the BEEO, DEEO and the
Deputy Commissioner, Hailakandi. Upon such exercise, the Director of Elementary Education Assam shall pass a reasoned order for giving
consequential benefit to the school headed by Anam Uddin Borbhuiya in consonance with the said reports. If the Director upon enquiry finds that
there was any manipulation and fraudulent activity by the authority of the school headed by the Siraj Uddin Choudhury, an appropriate action be taken
against them as per law and also bring the process initiated by the show cause notice dated 08.03.2018 issued to Siraj Uddin Choudhury and the
Deputy Inspector of School to its logical end. The aforesaid be done invariably within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the certified
copy of the order and under no circumstance, the Director shall go beyond the period of three months considering the fact that what has been ordered
was required to be done by the Director much earlier. Writ petition is accordingly disposed of. Interim order passed earlier stands vacated.