GAYATRI BURAGOHAIN Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the State of Assam, apart from Government Engineering Colleges and Engineering Institutes, there are four Government colleges, namely, Cotton College, Diphu Government College, Haflong Government College and Kokrajhar Government College. The petitioners are lecturers of Diphu Government College and Haflong Government College. At the time of appointment of the petitioners to the posts of lecturers of Government Colleges, their service conditions were governed by the Assam Education Service Rules, 1982 (hereinafter referred to as 'the 1982 Rules'), the Rules having been framed under Article 309 of the Constitution of India. Though the conditions of service of the petitioners are still governed by the 1982 Rules, they have put to challenge, with the help of this writ petition, made under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, "amendment Note" below Rule 3 of the 1982 Rules, which has come into effect, with the publication of the requisite notification, in the official Gazette, on 15-09-2009. The "amendment Note" has been introduced by the Assam Education Service (Amendment) Rules, 2009, which is hereinafter referred to as the Amended Rules, 2009. The amendment Note below Rule 3 of the 1982 Rules reads as under:

(2.) Rule 3 of 1982 Rules enlists various classes or cadres. In terms of the Pre-amended 1982 Rules, lecturers of Government Degree Colleges, including non-technical lecturers of Engineering Colleges and Polytechnics, form one cadre. Rule 3 of the Pre-Amended 1982 Rules mentions that each of the posts, mentioned in Sub-rule (1) of Rule 3 (such as, the posts of lecturer of Government Degree Colleges), form an independent cadre and that no member of any given cadre shall have any claim for appointment to higher cadre except as provided by the 1982 Rules.

(3.) The petitioners were directly recruited to the posts of lecturer and while some of them were posted to Diphu Government College, the others were posted as lecturers in Haflong Government College. In terms of the "Note" given below Rule 3 of the Pre-amended 1982 Rules, the lecturers of the four Government Colleges, namely, Cotton College, Diphu Government College, Haflong Government College and Kokrajhar Government College as well as the Government Engineering Colleges and Government Institutes formed, as indicated above, a common cadre. Rule 4 of the Pre-Amended 1982 Rules had, however, left the Governor with the power to determine the cadre strength of the lecturers of the said Government Colleges.