PRADHAN, KANDUAH GRAM PANCHAYAT Vs. NIVA BACHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the judgment and order dtd. 28/6/2019 passed in W.P. No. 27010(W) of 2017 and W.P. No. 21210(W) of 2015 the appellant has filed the instant appeal on the grounds, inter alia:-

(2.) The Learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant has submitted that in the writ petitions being W.P. No. 27010(W) of 2017 and W.P. No. 21210(W) of 2015 the age of the petitioner which has been disclosed in the affidavit pages does not tally with the voter list of Sankrail Constituency published in the year 2016 where the petitioner's age has been shown as 62 years. The order of termination was rightly passed by the appellant since the writ petitioner/respondent used to come to the office of the Panchayat every day after 11:00 a.m. which was beyond normal office time. Moreover, the respondent/writ petitioner had failed to discharge her statutory duty by attending the government office on time. The Learned Single Judge did not consider the fact that the writ petitioner/respondent had submitted her application for absorbing her in permanent capacity four years after the death of her husband and therefore the Learned Single Judge was not correct to set aside the order dtd. 31/10/2017 passed by the appellant herein. The Learned Counsel has also drawn the attention of this Court to the fact that the writ petitioner/respondent cannot be engaged in the temporary service of the Gram Panchayat in view of the above facts and circumstances, and further the benefit under the relevant circular extended by the Learned Single Judge to the petitioner cannot be sustained.

(3.) The Learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the writ petitioner/respondent no. 1 has submitted that the writ petitioner/respondent no. 1 has been struggling since 1989 for getting justice by filing writ petitions one after another. The struggle began when the husband of the petitioner/respondent namely Batakrishna Bachar, who was an employee in the office of the Kanduah Gram Panchayat, and was serving as Dafadar, died in harness on 12/3/1985 leaving behind the respondent no.1 and two minor children. Being helpless with the minor children she made an application before the aforesaid Gram Panchayat declaring therein that she read upto Class-IV. The member of the Kanduah Gram Panchayat including the then Prodhan took a resolution on 10/12/1990 and engaged the petitioner in the said Gram Panchayat at a monthly salary of Rs.100.00 only. The writ petitioner/respondent no. 1 time and again prayed for regularization of her service and finding no alternative she filed several writ petitions praying for necessary directions upon the concerned authorities for regularization of her service and to absorb her in the permanent post of Panchyat Karmi in accordance with the provisions of law but as the concerned authority did not consider her prayer for regularization, a series of litigations were filed from the side of the respondent/writ petitioner and ultimately the service of the respondent/writ petitioner was illegally terminated by the appellant. By the judgment dtd. 28/6/2019, the two writ petitions as aforesaid were disposed of and the Learned Single Judge has directed the respondent no. 1 to be engaged in temporary service in the Gram Panchayat and further the Learned Single Judge extended the benefit of Memo No. 9008-F(P) dtd. 16/9/2011 of the Audit Branch, Finance Department, Government of West Bengal to the writ petitioner/respondent as adopted from time to time calculatable at pro-rata rates from the date of her first engagement by resolution dtd. 10/12/1990.