BIMAL KUMAR CHANDA Vs. RATNA ROY AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY means of this writ petition which has purportedly been filed in the public interest, the petitioner has challenged the appointment of respondent No. 1 as Principal of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Education (IASE) on the ground that she does not fulfill the necessary qualifications. A writ in the nature of Quo Warranto has been prayed for alleging that the respondent No. 1 is a usurper of office not entitled to hold the said office. The petitioner is a senior citizen. He retired as Principal -in -Charge of the Tripura Government Law College and he had earlier also filed public interest litigations in this Court.

(2.) THE main ground on which the appointment of respondent No. 1 has been challenged is that she does not fulfill the necessary eligibility criteria, inasmuch as she does not have 10 years working experience as a teacher. On behalf of the respondents, preliminary objection has been raised that the petition has not been filed in the public interest. It has been submitted that the petitioner has filed this petition for the benefit of his son Abhijit Chanda who is an Assistant Professor in the IASE and who prior to the appointment of the respondent No. 1 was holding the post of Principal -in -Charge in the said institution. Another preliminary objection which has been raised is that the writ itself is not maintainable because no Quo Warranto lies in respect of statutory appointments and the respondent No. 1 is not holding a public office. Third preliminary objection which has been raised is that the petitioner has withheld material facts from this Court and has not come to Court with clean hands. On merits, it is asserted that the teaching experience of the respondent No. 1 as a part -time teacher is required to be counted towards her teaching experience and, therefore, she has 10 years teaching experience.

(3.) IT is also not disputed that the petitioner has experience of 7 years at the M.Ed., level and 1 year and 3 months as Professor on contract basis in the IASE. Thus, her experience of teaching at the postgraduate level or above secondary level is 8 years and 3 months. The dispute is with regard to the experience of the petitioner as a part -time teacher of education in Government Degree College, Dharmanagar, North Tripura. In the certificate annexed with the reply and as well as in the reply of the government, it is stated that the respondent No. 1 worked for 2 years as part -time teacher in education w.e.f. 1999 to 2001 and, therefore, she has two years experience. If this experience of 2 years is counted, then she would have experience of 10 years and 3 months.