MOUSUMI BISWAS Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present application has been filed by the petitioners under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, assailing a set of memos issued by the State Respondents which adversely affects the right of the petitioners to draw the House Rent Allowance (hereinafter referred to as 'HRA') under the Revision of Pay and Allowances (hereinafter referred to as 'ROPA') Memorandum of 2009, as presently applicable to them.

(2.) Subsequently however, since multiple writ petitions mounted the same challenge to the self-same issue of the HRA, the Court by its order dated January 4, 2019 and based on the consent of all the parties involved in this lis, took up all these writ petitions together through the course of 2019 on multiple dates. However, the disruption caused by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus inordinately delayed the adjudication of this lis for almost a year. While Ms. Chaitali Bhattacharya had made her detailed submissions on behalf of the State Respondents in 2019, I had requested the assistance of Mr. Kishore Datta, the learned Advocate General, by an order dated September 18, 2020. Mr. Datta had appeared on October 1, 2020 and had made part of his submissions. However, post his closing submissions on February 10, 2021, the hearing finally stood concluded and the judgment was reserved in the matter. Therefore, I would now proceed to dispose of all the pending writ petitions by this common judgment and order.

(3.) For the purpose of stating the facts, I shall specifically refer to W.P.A No. 1389 of 2018. Needless to mention, all the petitioners are similarly placed, and the decision herein shall cover all the writ petitions. The facts of the case, in so far as they are material to this writ petition, are circumscribed in a narrow compass and are encapsulated as follows: the writ petitioners are presently serving as incumbent Assistant Teachers of the government sponsored schools (hereinafter, referred to as the 'said schools'). The said schools are categorized as non-government schools, sponsored by the Government of West Bengal and under the control of the School Education Department.