Suprakas Sahu vs The State of West Bengal and Others

Debasish Kar Gupta, J.—None appears on behalf of the respondents when the matter is called on. No accommodation is prayed for. On January 18, 2013 also none appeared on behalf of the respondents. In order to give them one more chance the hearing of this matter was adjourned on that date.

This writ application is directed against an order passed by the respondent No. 3 under Memo No. 391-L(3) dated August 28, 2012. By virtue of the impugned order the prayer of the petitioner for granting final approval of his postgraduate scale of pay in his favour in connection with his services as an Assistant Teacher of Haldia High School District-Purba Medinipur, was rejected.

It appears from the materials on record that the service of the petitioner as an Assistant Teacher of the school under reference was approved by the respondent No. 3 with effect from August 11, 1976. The petitioner obtained Master Degree in relevant subject in the year 1984. The benefit of higher scale of pay was provisionally extended to the petitioner with effect from May 1,1984 by virtue of an order passed by the Additional District Inspector of Schools (SE) under his Memo No. 6387-S dated June 3, 1989. Subsequently the above benefit was withdrawn by the respondent No. 3 with a direction for recovery of the amount paid to the petitioner. The above order was challenged by the petitioner by way of filing an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India in the matter of Suprakas Sahu v. The State of West Bengal & Ors. (In Re: W.P. No. 9312 (W) of 2012) and the above writ application was disposed of June 22, 2012. The relevant portions of the above decision are quoted below:

On perusal of the impugned communication, this court does not find that the State authority formed any opinion regarding any fraudulent role played by the petitioner in the process of his erroneous pay fixation. Even though the pay fixation at the higher scale of pay was made by the concerned authority provisionally and the same was not ultimately approved by the higher authority still then, in view of the decision of the Hon''ble Supreme Court in the case of Syed Abdul Qadir and Others Vs. State of Bihar and Others, , this court hold that the State-respondents are not entitled to recover the excess payment which was made to the petitioner his employer during the tenure of his service. As such, this court holds that the impugned communication cannot be retained on record. The impugned communication appearing at page 49 of the writ petition stands quashed.

After perusing the aforesaid order, I find that the impugned order was quashed and set aside in the above writ application with a direction upon the respondent No. 3 to reconsider the matter. It is a matter of surprise that the respondent No. 3 repeated and reiterated the ground which had been set aside by the aforesaid order dated June 22, 2012 passed in W.P. No. 9312 (W) of 2012. It is not only permissible under law but also an example of introducing rule of man in place of rule of law that is not permissible by a State Government officer in our country.

In view of the above, the impugned order is quashed and set aside with a direction upon the respondent No. 3 to approve the extension of the benefit under reference on behalf of the petitioner within a period of six weeks from the date of communication of this order provided he is otherwise eligible.

This writ application is, thus, disposed of.

There will be a cost of Rs. 10,000/- to be paid to the petitioner within the aforesaid period of six weeks from the public exchequer at the first instance. The Secretary to the Government of West Bengal, School Education Department, is directed to realise the aforesaid costs from the remuneration of the concerned District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education), Purba Medinipur, expeditiously or by way of raising public demand in case of his retirement from the Government service. The petitioner is directed to communicate this order to all concerned including the Secretary to the Government of West Bengal, School Education Department.