PRASANTA DAS Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this writ petition the petitioner has inter alia prayed for a writ in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondents to cancel the promotional appointment of respondent no. 6 and to appoint the petitioner in his place and for other consequential reliefs.

(2.) THE petitioner was appointed as a Steno -Typist in Dum Dum Motijhil College (the College, for short), i.e., the respondent no. 3 herein on June 22, 1998. On July 18, 2007 a notice was issued for temporary appointment to two posts of Cashier, one for the morning and another for the day section of the college. The notice was issued inviting applications from the serving Group C candidates. The petitioner applied for both the posts and he had applied for promotion to the vacancies. According to the petitioner, in terms of the prevailing Government Order whenever a vacancy in the post of the Cashier occurred it had to be filled up by promotion from the employees belonging to the category of Lower Division Clerk, Typist etc. and if no suitable candidate was available by way of promotion only then such posts would be filled up by process of direct recruitment.

(3.) CHALLENGING the illegality in the selection process the petitioner has filed the present petition. The principal point on which the petitioner has sought to assail the selection of the respondent no. 6 is that it was contrary to the relevant Government Order and the reservation policy of the government. As per the Government Order the post of the Cashier was to be filled up from the category of Lower Division Clerk, Typist etc. The respondent no. 6 who was selected for the post was neither a Clerk nor a Typist and the petitioner was senior to him. The Calcutta University First Statutes, 1979 (the Statutes, for short) also provides that promotion to the post of Cashier of a college would be by promotion from employees belonging to Assistant, Clerk, Labour Assistant, Record Keeper etc. That apart the respondent no. 6 belongs to a totally different cadre of lower subordinate staff from which there cannot be any promotion to the concerned post.