SATYAJIT PAL Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petitioner was appointed by the order issued by the D.I. of Schools (S.E.) dtd. 24/5/2005. At the relevant point of time, the West Bengal Schools (Control of Expenditure) Act, 2005, was not in force. It came into force in November, 2005. The petitioner joined a post in the Hetampur Raj High School, Birbhum in a post requiring B.A. in Honours and M.A. in Geography, preferably trained. The petitioner was already enrolled and had completed Part-I of M.A. Examination at the time when he joined the post.

(2.) The petitioner was permitted to appear in the Part-II M.A. examination by a communication dtd. 17/1/2007. A prayer was made for sanction of higher pay scale which was approved by the School and forwarded to the office of the D.I. of Schools. The D.I. by the impugned order dtd. 5/1/2009 rejected the application since neither the petitioner nor the school took prior permission of the D.I. for acquiring the Post-Graduate qualification. The DI also found that the provisions of the Control of Expenditure Act, 2005 particularly 14(3) thereof, according to the D.I. was not strictly followed.

(3.) In support of the impugned order, Mr. Chattopadhyay, Learned Counsel appearing for the State, has relied upon firstly the Memo of the State being No. 593 dtd. 13/11/2007, issued under Sec. 14(3) of the West Bengal Control of Expenditure Act, 2005 that prior permission of the D.I. is necessary for the purpose of undergoing Post-Graduate course and claiming of PostGraduate pay scale. This Court is of the view that Memo No 593 cannot be applied to the petitioner or since the petitioner had acquired his M.A. qualification before it came into force.