SUKANTA MUKHOPADHYA Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On or about January 16, 1990 the State appointed the Petitioner in the post of Sub-Assistant Engineer (Civil), in its Public Works (C.B. Department). On January 29, 1990 the Petitioner joined the post and was confirmed vide order dated February 17, 1999 with retrospective effect from January 28, 1993.

(2.) On December 20, 1999, State framed the Recruitment Rule for the post of Assistant Engineer (Civil) whereby the said post was to be filled up from amongst the Sub-Assistant Engineers having ten years continuous service in the feeder post as confirmed one. The candidate must pass Professional Examination conducted by Public Service Commission. In short, the selection was to be made on "merit-cum-seniority" basis. As per the Recruitment Rule, a select list was to be prepared and a panel maintained for the said purpose.

(3.) The Petitioner passed out the said Professional Examination on April 9, 2001 and, thus, became entitled to be considered for the post of Assistant Engineer as he fulfilled all the requisites specified under the Recruitment Rules. Petitioner applied for promotion. The Authority forwarded his name. On or about October 17, 2001 the Chief Engineer sent proposal to the Public Service Commission for filling up eight posts out of ten vacant posts. Accordingly, eight posts were filled up out of eleven proposed names. Serial No. 11, Sri Debabrata Kundu being last in the panel was promoted ignoring the Petitioner who was above Debabrata being placed in Serial No. 9. In 2002, his name was again sent. This time, the Petitioner could not get the opportunity as one post was blocked, according to him, wrongfully. Name of one Samar Narayan Dutta was proposed who was, later on, found not eligible. The Petitioner, however, was not appointed. Again, in July 2002, because of wrong inclusion of one Dibyendu Acharyya from another stream, the Petitioner could not get opportunity. In the mean time, one Rabindra Nath Dey, being senior to the Petitioner, passed out the Professional Examination in February 2002 after about one year of Petitioner's passing of the said examination, got appointment on the strength of his seniority in November 2002 when proposal was made to fill up three out of four vacant posts. Similarly, in February 2003 another senior Kanak Kumar Saha passed out the said Professional Examination and was considered. In this way, he was never considered for promotion favorably, although he passed in 2001 securing better merit than the subsequent promotes on the strength of their seniority.