Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Sutapa Kundu vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors on 16 January, 2014
Author: Jyotirmay Bhattacharya
Bench: Jyotirmay Bhattacharya
1
16.01.2014. F. M. A. 2199 of 2013
dc. with
CAN 10370 of 2012
Sutapa Kundu
versus
The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Mr. Biswarup Biswas,
Mr. Malay Bhattacharyya
... For the Writ Petitioner/Appellant.
Mr. Asok Kumar Chakraborty, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Manas Kumar Sadhu ... For the State-Respondents.
This Mandamus Appeal is directed against the judgement and/or order dated 28th August, 2012 passed by a Learned Single Judge of this Court in W.P. 10027(W) of 2012. By the said order, the petitioner's prayer for higher scale of pay for her post graduate degree which she acquired through a Distance Course of Education after joining her service in the school viz., Jharia Ramkrishna Vidyapith, Hooghly, was rejected by the Learned Single Judge of this Court on two-fold grounds which are as follows :-
(i) Higher scale of pay cannot be given to the writ petitioner as she did not disclose before the West Bengal Regional School Service Commission (Eastern Region) Burdwan that she was prosecuting her post graduate course.
(ii) The writ petitioner did not appear in the post graduate examination after obtaining sanction from the 2 authority and no permission for study leave was granted to her by the Board.
The legality and/or propriety of the said order of the Learned Single Judge of this Court is under challenge in this appeal before us at the instance of the writ petitioner/appellant.
Let us now consider as to how far the Learned Single Judge was justified in passing the impugned order in the facts of the instant case.
Here is the case where the writ petitioner was an Honours Graduate in English. She submitted her application before the competent authority on 17th August, 2001 seeking permission to appear in the selection test to be conducted by the West Bengal Regional School Service Commission (Eastern Region), Burdwan. She appeared in the selection test and ultimately came out successfully, but before she was recommended for her appointment in Jharia Ramkrishna Vidyapith, Hooghly in 2003, she got herself admitted in master degree course through correspondence mode of education conducted by Burdwan University in 2001 and passed Part-I examination in 2002. She was recommended by the School Service Commission for her appointment in the said school on 17th May, 2003.
After being so recommended by the School Service Commission, she joined her service as an Assistant Teacher having honours degree in the said school on 12th May, 2003. After completing her study, she appeared in the Part-II 3 examination in master degree course and the last date of such examination was held on 13th November, 2003.
Be it mentioned here that school authority granted her leave for appearing in the said examination. She ultimately passed the Part-II examination and master degree was conferred upon her.
After acquiring the master degree through the correspondence course conducted by the University of Burdwan, she applied before the concerned authority for grant of higher scale of pay.
Since her prayer for grant of higher scale of pay was kept pending for consideration for a considerable period of time, the writ petitioner came before this Court by filing the writ petition seeking issuance of direction upon the concerned authority for early consideration of her prayer for grant of higher scale of pay for her enhanced educational qualification.
The Learned Single Judge of this Court rejected the petitioner's said writ petition for the reasons as indicated above without however considering the Government Order being No. 735-SE(S)/5P-132/2002 dated 3rd June, 2002 issued by the Special Secretary, School Education Department, Secondary Branch.
Since, in our view, the said Government Order is relevant for the present purpose, the relevant part of the said Government Order is set out hereunder :
4"...........................................................................Upon due consideration of the fact the Govt. in the School Education Department has decided that Hons. Graduate teachers of Non-Govt. aided Secondary Schools including Madrasahs appointed through W.B.S.S.C. who have obtained post graduate degree in the subject relevant to their appointment prior to their date of joining in the school/Madrashas or who have completed their course of studies at Post Graduate level in the subject relevant to their appointment or have appeared at the examination but result of that examination was not published till the date of their joining may be allowed higher scale of pay with effect from the date of joining or the date following the last date of examination (both theoretical and practical) whichever is later.
..................................... "
Here is the case where we find that the writ petitioner passed M.A. Part-I examination in 2002 i.e., even before she was recommended for appointment as an Assistant Teacher in the said school. She completed her study through correspondence course without affecting the academic interest of the students of the said school and ultimately appeared in M.A. Part-II examination after obtaining leave from the school authority. She passed Part-II examination.
Since she was appointed as honours candidate in a post earmarked for honours candidate and has completed her course of studies at post graduate level in the subject relevant to her appointment, she, in our view, is entitled to get higher scale of pay for her enhanced academic qualification in the relevant subject from the date following the last date of 5 examination both in theoretical and practical in the present case as per the aforesaid Government Order.
Be it mentioned here that the master degree obtained through Correspondence/Distance Mode of Education Courses conducted by Vidyasagar University, Midnapore and the University of Burdwan, West Bengal is recognised by the State Government in view of the Government Order No. 549- SE(S)/5P-1/94(Pt) dated 24th June, 1997 issued by the OSD and Ex-officio Deputy Secretary, Department of School Education, Secondary Branch.
Mr. Chakraborty, learned senior counsel appearing for the State-respondents is unable to produce any circular and/or any notification which imposed an obligation upon the writ petitioner for disclosing her Part-I passed certificate before the Regional School Service Commission as a condition for grant of higher scale of pay for her enhanced qualification.
As such we feel that even non-disclosure of her Part-I passed certificate before the concerned Regional School Service Commission, cannot stand in the way of granting higher scale of pay to the petitioner for her enhanced educational qualification.
Nothing has been produced before us to show that the writ petitioner was required to take prior permission from the Board for prosecuting her studies in master degree course through correspondence course and as such notwithstanding no permission was granted by the Board, her entitlement to get higher scale of pay for her enhanced educational qualification 6 cannot be denied in view of the Government Circular dated 3rd June, 2002 as mentioned above.
Before concluding, we also want to record here that since the petitioner prosecuted her study through correspondence course even she was not required to take any permission for study leave from the Board.
As such, we hold that the Learned Single Judge of this Court was not justified in rejecting the petitioner's said writ petition.
The concerned authority is thus directed to grant higher scale of pay to the writ petitioner for her enhanced qualification if it is found that she acquired such qualification in the relevant subject, with effect from the date following the last date of M.A. Part-II Examination in which she appeared. Such exercise including grant of financial benefit and the arrears thereof should be extended to the petitioner positively within a period of eight weeks from the date of communication of this order.
Needless to mention here that the consequential relief by way of refixation of her pay scale should also be made by the concerned authority without any delay.
Both the appeal and the application are thus allowed.
7Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be furnished to the applicant as early as possible.
(JYOTIRMAY BHATTACHARYA, J.) ( ISHAN CHANDRA DAS, J. )