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2014 DIGILAW 103 (MEG)

Sanial Hoque v. State of Meghalaya

2014-05-20

T.NANDAKUMAR SINGH

body2014
Order These two writ petitions relating with the appointment of Assistant Teacher in the deficit school i.e. Mahendraganj Deficit Upper Primary School are taken up for joint hearing for being disposed of by a common judgment and order. 2. Heard Mr. N. Khan, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, Mr. K.P. Bhattarcharjee, learned GA appearing for respondents No. 1 – 5, Mr. J. Lalsangliana, learned counsel appearing for respondent No. 6 and also Mr. A.S. Siddique, learned counsel appearing for respondent No. 7 (WP(C) No. 253/2013). 3. Heard Mr. J.Lalsangliana, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, Mr. K.P. Bhattarcharjee, learned GA appearing for the respondents No. 1 – 5, Mr. A.S. Siddique, learned counsel appearing for respondents No. 6 & 7 and Mr. N. Khan, learned counsel appearing for respondent No. 8 (WP(C) No. 271/2013). 4. The facts leading to the filing of the writ petitions is briefly noted. The Govt. of Meghalaya adopted the Rules called “The Assam Aided High And Higher Secondary School Employees Rules 1965” (for short “the said Rules of 1965”). The said Rules of 1965 will apply to all the persons already employed on shall be employed in a Govt. Aided High or Higher Secondary Schools coming under these Rules on the date of commencement of these Rules. Rule 4(3) of the said Rules of 1965, prescribed the methods of appointment to the post of Assistant Teacher; and under that Rule, Assistant Teachers holding Bachelors or higher degrees shall be selected through a test and /or interview to be conducted either by the Director of Public Instructions or by the Board of Secondary Education as may be decided by the Govt. from time to time. 5. The Selection Committee shall prepare a list of the selected candidates in order of preference and publish the list in the Gazette and forwarded to the Managing Committee. The Managing Committee shall make appointments from the select list after due verification and with the prior approval of the Inspector of Schools and the list of the selected candidates shall ordinarily remain valid for one year. Rule 4(3) of the said Rules, 1965 read as follows:- “4. The Managing Committee shall make appointments from the select list after due verification and with the prior approval of the Inspector of Schools and the list of the selected candidates shall ordinarily remain valid for one year. Rule 4(3) of the said Rules, 1965 read as follows:- “4. Method of recruitment:- (1) Headmasters/Headmistresses : ***** ***** ***** (3) Assistant Teachers :- The Assistant Teachers holding Bachelor’s or Higher Degrees shall be selected through a test and/or interview to be conducted either by the Director of Public Instruction or by the Board of Secondary Education as may be decided by the government from time to time. The Director of Public Instruction shall prepare a list of selected candidates in order of preference and publish the list in the Assam Gazette and forward it to the Managing Committee. The Managing Committee shall make appointments from the special list after due verification and with the prior approval of the Inspector of Schools concerned. The list of candidates shall ordinarily remain valid for one year.” 6. The Mahendraganj Deficit School, South West Garo Hills in compliance with the provisions of the said Rules of 1965 issued the advertisement dated 14.05.2013 inviting the candidates for one post of Assistant Teacher of Mahendraganj Deficit Upper Primary School and in that advertisement dated 14.05.2013, the eligibility criteria of the candidates for appointment to the post of Assistant Teacher are also clearly mentioned and also the date of interview (Annexure A1 to the writ petition i.e. WP(C) No. 253/2013). The concerned authority i.e. the Sub-Divisional School Education Officer, South West Garo Hills, Ampati issued an order dated 17.06.2013 for constitution of the Departmental Selection Committee for conducting the interview for the post of Assistant Teacher, at Mahendraganj Deficit Upper Primary School, South West Garo Hills, Ampati, advertised in the said Advertisement dated 14.05.2013. Under that order dated 17.06.2013, the members of the Selection Committee consist of : (1) District School Education Officer, West Garo Hills, Tura, (2) Sub-Divisional School Education Officer, South West Garo Hills, Ampati, (3) Headmaster/Secretary, Mahendraganj Deficit School, South West Garo Hills, (4) President of the Managing Committee, Mahendraganj Deficit School, (5) Sub-Inspector of Schools, South West Garo Hills, Ampati and (5) Mr. Lawrence D. Sangma, Ampati Govt. Higher Secondary School. 7. Lawrence D. Sangma, Ampati Govt. Higher Secondary School. 7. In response to the said Advertisement dated 14.05.2013, the petitioners of WP(C) No. 253/2013 and WP(C) 275/2013 and others had applied for the said post of Assistant Teacher of Mahendraganj Deficit Upper Primary School, South West Garo Hills. It is stated that as many as 25 (twenty five) candidates appeared for the interview on 20.06.2013 conducted by the said duly constituted Selection Committee and the Selection Committee recommended one Shri. Shakil Ahmed Sarkar (Petitioner of WP(C) No. 275/2013 and Respondent No. 6 of WP(C) No. 253/2013) who scored the highest mark in the interview i.e. 163 for the said post and the petitioner of WP(C) No. 253/2013 and respondent No. 8 in WP(C) No. 275/2013 having scored the second highest marks i.e. 147 had been kept in the waiting list. The result of the Selection Committee recommending the petitioner Shri. Shakil Ahmed Sarkar for the said post and keeping Shri. Sanial Hoque in the waiting list was also published vide order of the Sub-Divisional School Education Officer, South West Garo Hills, Ampati dated 25.06.2013, which reads as follows:- “GOVERNMENT OF MEGHALAYA OFFICE OF THE SUB-DIVISIONAL SCHOOL EDUCATION OFFICER: SOUTH WEST GARO HILLS: AMPATI Dated Ampati the 25th June, 2013 ORDER The Departmental Selection Committee had conducted interview for the post of Assistant Teacher in Mahendraganj Deficit Upper Primary School on 20th June, 2013 in the office of the Sub-Divisional School Education Officer, Ampati. As per the result the following candidate had been selected for the post in order of merit. 1. Shri. Shakil Ahmed Sarker 2. Shri.Sanial Haque (Waiting list). The necessary document of the candidate should be submitted to this office for necessary approval on or before 4th July, 2013. This is for favour of your kind information and necessary action. Sub-Divisional School Education Officer, Ampati, South West Garo Hills.” 8. In the writ petition i.e. WP(C) No. 253/2013, the final list or marks obtained by the candidates in the said interview for the post of Assistant Teacher at Mahendraganj Deficit Upper Primary School, South West Garo Hills held on 20.06.2013 is also annexed and it reads as follows:- “FINAL SHEET WRITTEN-INTERVIEW FOR THE POST OF ASSTT. TEACHER OF MAHENDRAGANJ DEF UPS HELD ON 20-6-2013 IN THE OFFICE CHAMBER OF THE SUB-DIVISIONAL SCHOOL EDUCATION OFFICER, SOUTH-WEST GARO HILLS, AMPATI Sl. TEACHER OF MAHENDRAGANJ DEF UPS HELD ON 20-6-2013 IN THE OFFICE CHAMBER OF THE SUB-DIVISIONAL SCHOOL EDUCATION OFFICER, SOUTH-WEST GARO HILLS, AMPATI Sl. No. NAME OF CANDIDATE QUALIFICATION D.O.B. APPLIED FOR MARKS SECURED GRAND TOTAL REMARKS CHAIRMAN 1ST MEMBER 2ND MEMBER 3RD MEMBER 4TH MEMBER 5TH MEMBER 1. ***** ***** **** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 10. Sanial Hoque B.A. 3rd Div. 01.07.1987 15 17 18 8 48 41 147 2nd 11. ***** ***** **** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 14. Shakil Ahmed Sarkar B.A. 2nd Div. 31.12.1989 39 25 32 38 17 12 163 1st 9. In compliance of Sub-Rule (3) of Rules 4 of the said Rules of 1965, the Selection Committee after publication of the selected list had forwarded the list of the selected candidates to the School Managing Committee of the Mahendraganj Deficit Upper Primary School. The Managing Committee held its meeting on 24.06.2013 and in that meeting; the Managing Committee had decided to appoint Shri. Sanial Hoque (petitioner of WP(C) No. 253/2013) even though as per the merit list of the selected candidates is No.2 and the reason for not appointing the merit list No. 1 (petitioner of WP(C) No. 275/2013) are that the petitioner had suffered from stammering and there is also overwriting in the marks obtained by him in the said interview. 10. The state respondents i.e. respondents No. 1–5 had filed joint affidavit-in-opposition. In the said affidavit-in-opposition, it is clearly stated that the President and Secretary of the Managing Committee are also members of the Selection Committee which was constituted under the said order of the Sub-Divisional School Education Officer dated 17.06.2013 and also that the final mark sheet containing marks obtained by the respective candidates are duly signed by all the members of the Selection Committee including the President and Secretary of the Managing Committee and also in para 9 of the affidavit-in-opposition, it is stated that “the answering Deponent beg to state that the earlier resolution taken by the Managing Committee of the School on 24.06.2013 is ultra-vires of the rules and subsequent appointment of the Applicant by the Managing Committee is not in accordance with the Departmental Selection Committee (DSC) recommendation and result declared on 25.06.2013. It is also stated that Headmaster-Cum-Secretary and President of the school are appointing the Applicant of their own. It is also stated that Headmaster-Cum-Secretary and President of the school are appointing the Applicant of their own. It is also stated that prior approval is required before appointing any candidate from the competent authority however, the Managing Committee fail to obtained prior approval of appointment from the competent authority and for that reason vide letter dated 24.07.2014, the deponent had return the appointment Order, joining report and other document of Shri. Sanial Hoque (Applicant) since the appointed candidate is not in accordance with the merit list and the same has not been approved. It is also beg to state that the Managing Committee alleged that the marks obtained by the applicant in column fourth of 3rd member, there is overwriting and used of correcting fluid, it is stated that the President and Member Secretary, being members of DSC, did not raise any question and make No Objection and duly approved the Mark Sheet and put their respective signature in the mark sheet and the same cannot be denied by them in future as and when they liked.” 11. In the above factual backdrop, it is clear that none of the petitioners (i) is denying or questioning the validity or otherwise of the Selection Committee constituted under the said order of Sub-Divisional School Education Officer, South West Garo Hills, Ampati dated 17.06.2013; (ii) President and Secretary are also the members of the said Selection Committee; (iii) the final sheet/final Mark Sheets containing marks obtained by the respective candidates in the said interview held on 20.06.2013 are duly signed by all the members of the Selection Committee and; (iv) the writ petitioner of WP(C) No. 275/2013 Shri. Shakil Ahmed Sarkar scored the highest mark i.e. 163 and the petitioner of WP(C) No. 253/2013 Shri. Sanial Hoque obtained second highest mark i.e. 147. The Managing Committee whose President and Secretary were also members of the duly constituted Selection Committee cannot be the super Selection Committee, in absence of the rule, for selection of the candidates for appointment to the post of Assistant Teacher advertised in the said advertisement dated 14.05.2013 and also the Selection Committee cannot take any decision adverse to the selected candidate i.e. Shri. Shakil Ahmed Sarkar i.e. writ petitioner of WP(C) No. 275/2013 which would have the civil consequence behind the back and knowledge of Shri. Shakil Ahmed Sarkar. 12. 12. In the given case, the official Respondents and the Managing Committee of the Mahendraganj Deficit Upper Primary School, South West Garo Hills are directed that the appointment to the post of Assistant Teacher in Mahendraganj Deficit Upper Primary School, South West Garo Hills should be in compliance with the procedures as prescribed under Sub-Rule (3) & (4) of Rules 4 of the said Rules of 1965 and the person, who secured highest mark in the Recruitment Test i.e. interview on 20.06.2013 is to be appointed, if the Managing Committee, requires to appoint any candidate in pursuance of the said advertisement dated 14.05.2013. 13. With the above observations and directions, these writ petitions are disposed of.