STATE OF WEST BENGAL Vs. DEB KUMAR MUKHERJEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against an order of the Learned Single Judge whereby the Learned Judge made the Rule absolute in the writ petition filed by the respondents. Learned Judge also passed, inter alia, the following directions:

(2.) THE facts, inter alia, leading to this appeal are that the post of Inspectors were created in or about March, 1956 in the Development Department under the Government of West Bengal. For the purpose of appointment to the said post of Inspectors, the Government prescribed recruitment regulations and according to the said regulations graduates working in the Government offices were eligible for selection and appointment. For the purpose of appointment to the said post of Inspectors knowledge of Civil and Criminal Law and their application were essential, apart from the fact that they should be well conversant with the office procedures and accounts matters. Though the said posts were originally created for the Development Department with the said posts were transferred to the Housing Department and the Inspectors were to look after the Middle Income Group Housing and Low Income Group Housing and the scale of pay prescribed for the said post of Inspector was Rs. 100-200. Originally the posts were created on temporary basis.

(3.) BY a notification issued by the Department of Finance Government of west Bengal being Notification No. 5472-F dated 27th December, 1961 published in the Calcutta Gazette Extraordinary dated 2nd January 1962 the said department amended the West Bengali Service Rules 1961, by prescribing and/or reviving the scale of pay of the employees under the Government of west Bengal notwithstanding the fact that the respondents as Inspectors were employees under the Government of West Bengal and notwithstanding the fact that as inspectors were employees under the Government of West Bengal and the cadre of Inspector was borne in the cadre of Civil servant, the said pay commission kept silent with regard to scales prescribed for the said post of inspectors and though the said revision in the scales of pay was for abolishing the different scales of pay for the same post carrying and similar nature of responsibilities recommended the scale of pay Rs. 150-250/- for the Inspectors of the Housing Department. As a matter of fact this revision in the scale of pay and fixation of the scale of payment Rs. 150-250/- was challenged in the writ petition as wholly arbitrary and the said fixation was alleged to have been made without making any assessment, without considering the responsibilities and the performances attached to the said post. It is significant to note that the said scale of pay was prescribed for the Lower Division Clerk. It to further contention of the respondent/petitioners in the writ petition that from the very beginning i. e. from the post of Inspectors in the housing Department were included in the proper cadre and the status of the inspectors were not at all maintained and, therefore, the posts of Inspectors were even lower in status than the Upper Division Clerk. It is the further case of the writ petitioners that for the purpose of appointment as a Lower Division clerk the required qualification was Matriculate and, the nature of job is stereo-typed and completely clerical. From the recruitment regulations and prescription of eligibility criteria it would reveal that post of Inspector could in no way be equated with Upper Division Clerk even not to speak of Lower division Clerk. As a matter of fact the nature of job of Inspectors was prescribed by the Government Order No. 1990-I K-87/55 dated 2. 3. 1956 and from the said Government Order it would reveal that the duties and responsibilities of the Inspectors are verification of income of the applicants and that of the surety by examining the trade licence and various other licences and examination of books of accounts and verification of pay certificate and verification of title deeds and documents in the matter of agricultural land for ascertaining the income from the source of agriculture. Secondly to verify the title to the land where the proposed building was to be erected and mortgated to the government.