Sarada Devi vs State Of Assam And 2 Ors

Heard Mr. S.B Rahman, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. N. Sarma, learned Standing Counsel for the Elementary Education Department,

Government of Assam.

The petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Teacher in the Gandhibari Girls ME School in the Nalbari district as per appointment letter dated

16.03.1987 and the school was provincialised on 09.11.1991. However, inspite of being provincialised, the service of the petitioner was not regularized

and instead she was terminated from service. Being aggrieved, the petitioner approached this Court through a writ petition being Civil Rule

No.3113/1993, which was given a final consideration by the order dated 22.05.1196. The relevant provisions of the order dated 22.05.1996 is as

follows:-

“Considering the facts and circumstances of the case the respondents No.2 and 3 are ordered to consider the case of the petitioner for

regularisation of her services on and from the date of regularisation of the respondent No.5, Sri Manik Kalita. However, if the respondents are unable

to accommodate the petitioner in the Gandhibari Girls Me school, in that event the respondents No.2 and 3 are directed to accommodate the petitioner

in any other provincialised ME school in the Nalbari Sub-division under the jurisdiction of the respondent No.3.â€​

Pursuant to the requirement of the judgment and order of 22.05.1996, the order dated 31.08.1997 was passed by the Director of Elementary

Education, Assam. By the said order, the Director ventured into the question of determining the seniority between the petitioner and the aforesaid Sri

Manik Kalita and accordingly arrived at a conclusion that the Managing Committee of the school on 27.03.1993 had terminated the services of the

petitioner and one Jiten Deka was appointed in the vacant post. The said stand of the respondent was also taken in the Civil Rule No.3113/1993, but

the same was not accepted by the Court. By the said order, the petitioner was advised by the Director to apply for the post of Assistant Teacher as

and when vacancy occurs.

The petitioner being aggrieved by the order of the Director approached this Court by way of Civil Rule No.5960/1997 as well as Cop(C)

No.48/1999. An order dated 28.08.2001 was passed, wherein this Court had made the following observation:-

“On perusal of the impugned order, I find that the Contemnor was never asked to determine the seniority of the petitioner or the Manik Kalita.â€​

“The purported impugned order of the Director of Elementary Education, Assam was uncalled for.â€​

Accordingly, by the said judgment and order of 28.08.2001, it was provided thus:-

“In view of the above, respondent State is directed to regularize the service of the petitioner in any school as Assistant Teacher in the district of

Nalbari within a period of four months from today.â€​

It was further provided that the petitioner would be entitled to salary only from the date of regularization.

The purport of the order dated 28.08.2001 would be that the respondents were required to regularize the petitioner forthwith and to pay her salary

therefrom without being saddled with the liability to pay the salary from the time when the aforesaid Manik Kalita was regularized. As nothing was

done, the petitioner preferred another writ petition being WP(C) No.2175/2006, which was disposed of by the order of 26.10.2009 by directing the

respondent authorities to comply the earlier order of this Court dated 28.08.2001.

Pursuant thereto, the order dated 31.08.2013 was passed by the Director of Elementary Education, Assam which is assailed in this writ petition. A

bare perusal of the order dated 31.08.2013 indicates that the petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Teacher in the Uttar Pub Khata Bid ME School

on temporary basis.

As already indicated and also reiterated, the direction of this Court in the order dated 28.08.2001 was to regularize the petitioner as an Assistant

Teacher in any provincialised school of Nalbari district forthwith thereof. The said requirement had also been reiterated in the subsequent order of

26.10.2009 in WP(C) No.2175/2006. Therefore, the requirement of the earlier orders of this Court was to regularize the petitioner as Assistant

Teacher in any provincialised school in the Nalbari district forthwith on and from 28.08.2001. There was no requirement for the Director to again

appoint the petitioner in the year 2013. In such view of the matter, the further appointment of the petitioner dated 31.08.2013 is found to be

unacceptable on the premises that the requirement was to regularize the petitioner forthwith from 28.08.2001 in the post of Assistant Teacher in any

provincialised School of Nalbari district.

In view of the above, the Director of Elementary Education, Government of Assam is directed to comply with the order dated 28.08.2001 of this

Court in strict terms as required therein and also by keeping in mind the observation made in the said order that the respondents were never asked to

determine the seniority of the petitioner or Manik Kalita and that the purport of the earlier orders of the Director advising the petitioner to appear in

any subsequent selection was also held to be uncalled for.

The aforesaid direction for compliance of the order dated 28.08.2001 be carried out by the Director of Elementary Education, Assam within a

period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.

As the petitioner had already superannuated from service, the consequential benefits of complying the order dated 28.08.2001 be provided to the

petitioner. In terms of the above, the writ petition stands disposed of.