MEENAKSHI SINGHA Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. M. Khan, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. U. Sarma, learned standing counsel for the Secondary Education Department, representing respondent nos. 1 to 3, Mr. P. Saikia, learned Government Advocate, representing respondent no. 4 and Mr. S.D. Purkayastha, learned counsel representing respondent no. 6. None appears on call for the respondent no.5, upon whom vide order dtd. 26/9/2019, notice has been deemed to be duly served.

(2.) The pleaded case of the petitioner is that she is having educational qualification of M.Sc. (Chemistry), B.Ed., and had also cleared Teacher Eligibility Test Examination (TET for short). Accordingly, it is claimed that the petitioner has the requisite eligibility to be appointed as Post Graduate Teacher (PGT for short). By an OM dtd. 19/2/2014, issued by the Secondary Education Department, it was provided, amongst others, in Clause 7 (vii) that "No candidate is allowed to apply in the Bengali / Hindi medium schools if the candidate does not have MIL in Bengali and Hindi in the HSLC examination as the case may be. Only candidates having Bengali and Hindi are allowed for applying in the schools in Bengali and Hindi medium schools which are imparting teaching in Bengali or Hindi exclusively." To assail the said clause of the OM dtd. 19/2/2014, the petitioner and others had preferred a writ petition, which was registered and numbered as W.P.(C) 3403/2014, and this Court, by order dtd. 23/7/2014, in the interim, provided that "Irrespective of pendency of the writ petition, the petitioners may be allowed to offer their candidatures in response to the impugned advertisement." Thereafter, by order dtd. 30/7/2014, passed in M.C. 2123/2014 [in W.P.(C) 3403/2014], clarified as follows - "Irrespective of pendency of the writ petition and the impugned office memorandum dtd. 19/2/2014, Annexure-5 to the writ petition, the petitioners may be permitted to offer their candidature in response to the impugned advertisement, which might be issued in due course." Consequently, in view of the said orders of this Court, the respondent authorities, by way of a WT message dtd. 8/8/2014, directed the Inspector of Schools, CDC, Silchar as well as the Deputy Commissioner, Cachar and Chairman, District Level Approval Authority to allow all the 10 (ten) petitioners in W.P.(C) 3403/2014, including the petitioner of this case, to participate in the interview. Pursuant to the selection process, one out of the ten petitioners in W.P.(C) 3403/2014 was appointed as PGT by the Director of Secondary Education, Assam vide order dtd. 17/11/2014 and one more out of ten petitioners was appointed as PGT by the same authority vide order dtd. 1/12/2014 respectively.

(3.) It is the projected case of the petitioners that during the pendency of W.P.(C) 3403/2014, another Office Memorandum dtd. 14/7/2016 was issued by the Principal Secretary to the Government of Assam, Secondary Education Department, amongst others, which contained Clause no. 7(vii), containing provisions that was similar to OM dtd. 19/2/2014, which was under challenge in W.P.(C) 4609/2016. In the said clause, it was provided that "No candidate is allowed to apply in the Bengali/ Hindi/ Assamese medium schools if the candidate does not have MIL in Bengali, Hindi and Assamese respectively in the HSLC Examination as the case may be. Only candidates having Bengali, Hindi and Assamese as MIL in HSLC Examination are allowed for applying in the schools which are imparting education in Bengali, Hindi and Assamese medium exclusively." Aggrieved by the said OM dtd. 14/7/2016, the petitioner along with six other persons had assailed the same by filing a writ petition, which was registered and numbered as W.P.(C) 4609/2016 and this Court by order dtd. 5/8/2016, provided that - "Having regard to the previous office memorandum dtd. 19/2/2014 and the order passed by this Court on 23/7/2014 in W.P.(C) 3403/2014, it is hereby directed that notwithstanding pendency of the writ petition, petitioner would be entitled to participate in the selection for the post of Post- Graduate Teacher in Higher Secondary Schools." It may be mentioned that the said writ petition, i.e. W.P.(C) 4609/2016, wherein the petitioner was arrayed as petitioner no.3, was disposed of by directing the respondent authorities to declare the results of the petitioners and depending on the same to take appropriate consequential steps for their appointment as per law, further directing that such exercise should be done within a period of 3 (three) months.