JUDGMENT : The writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioner seeking setting aside of a letter dated 28.12.2020 written by the respondent no. 2 i.e. the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Assam whereby the respondent no. 2 has sought instruction from the Government about which list out of the two lists available, is to be accepted for issuance of a notification regarding constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board for Hojai Sub-Division on the ground that on one of the lists contains the names of respondent nos. 4 – 15 who are ineligible as per the extant guidelines of the Welfare of Plain Tribes & Backward Classes (WPT&BC) Department. 2. The case of the petitioner is that he is a permanent resident of Hojai district and being eligible, is desirous of being appointed as the Chairman of the Scheduled Castes Development Board for Hojai Sub-Division. For the said purpose and upon expiry of the term of the previous Scheduled Castes Development Board, Hojai Sub-Division, the petitioner along with 16 other candidates who are also desirous to become Vice-Chairman/Members of the said Development Board, submitted applications in the prescribed format. The applications on being placed before the Minister (In-Charge) of the Hojai district, were duly forwarded by him to the Minister, WPT&BC Department vide a letter dated 10.06.2020 for constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board, Hojai Sub-Division wherein the name of the petitioner was recommended as the Chairman of the Scheduled Castes Development Board, Hojai Sub-Division. The applications were thereafter placed before the Chief Minister, Assam who, in turn, forwarded the same to the Minister, WPT&BC Department on 01.08.2020. On 09.12.2020, it was directed to be placed before the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Assam, who is also the Member Secretary of the Selection Committee for Scheduled Castes Development Board for consideration. On 11.12.2020, the applications of the petitioner and the other 16 persons were placed by the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Assam before the Minister, WPT&BC Department for constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board, Hojai Sub-Division as it had already been recommended by the Chief Minister as well as by the Minister (In-Charge), Hojai district. 3. On 11.12.2020, the applications of the petitioner and the other 16 persons were placed by the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Assam before the Minister, WPT&BC Department for constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board, Hojai Sub-Division as it had already been recommended by the Chief Minister as well as by the Minister (In-Charge), Hojai district. 3. When the matter was rested as such, the petitioner stated to have learnt that another list of 15 candidates for constituting the Scheduled Castes Development Board, Hojai Sub-Division was recommended by the Minister, WPT&BC Department and forwarded to the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes on 01.06.2020. The said list was also placed before the Minister, WPT&BC Department on 11.12.2020 by the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes. According to the petitioner, 12 out of those 15 recommended names i.e. the respondent nos.4 – 15 are ineligible to be considered for Chairman/Vice-Chairman/Member of the Scheduled Castes Development Board in view of the guidelines laid down in a notification dated 20.02.2014. Surprisingly, the other list containing the names of 15 candidates was once again forwarded to the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes by the local MLA, Hojai LAC by adding 4 additional names therein. The list of 19 candidates was once again placed before the Minister, WPT&BC Department by the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes on 19.12.2020. In the meantime, on 21.12.2020, the Minister (In-Charge), Hojai district recommending the list of candidates with the petitioner’s name as Chairman, wrote to the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes for constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board, Hojai Sub-Division. 4. It is the further case of the petitioner that on 22.12.2020, the Minister, WPT&BC Department after considering both the list of candidates, approved the list of candidates under the chairmanship of the petitioner and forwarded the same to the Commissioner & Secretary, WPT&BC Department. Pursuant thereto, the WPT&BC Department vide its communication dated 23.12.2020 wrote to the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes with the request to submit a specific proposal for constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board, Hojai Sub-Division along with the minutes of the Selection Committee for approval of the Government in terms of the extant guidelines. 5. Heard Mr. K.P. Pathak, learned counsel assisted by Mr. J.U. Laskar, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. R. Dhar, learned Standing Counsel, WPT&BC Department for the respondent nos. 1 and 2; and Mr. 5. Heard Mr. K.P. Pathak, learned counsel assisted by Mr. J.U. Laskar, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. R. Dhar, learned Standing Counsel, WPT&BC Department for the respondent nos. 1 and 2; and Mr. R. Talukdar, learned Junior Government Advocate for the respondent no. 3. By order dated 09.03.2021, service of notice on the respondent nos. 4 -15 was deemed to be completed. None has appeared for the respondent nos. 4 -15 despite such service of notice. 6. Mr. Pathak, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that no role has been assigned in the guidelines formulated for constitution of the Development Boards to the local MLA to recommend names. He has submitted that the names of 4 persons are sought to be included in the second list on the recommendation of the local MLA of the Hojai LAC. To buttress his submission, he has referred to the notifications dated 20.02.2014, 12.09.2014 and 08.05.2015. It is further submitted that the list containing the names of respondent nos. 4 – 15 had been wrongly recommended by the Minister, WPT&BC Department since it did not contain the recommendation of the Deputy Commissioner/Minister (In-Charge) of the concerned district. In such view of the matter, it is not proper on the part of the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes to seek instruction as to which list, out of the said two list, is to be accepted for issuance of notification for constituting the Scheduled Castes Development Board for the Hojai Sub-Division. He has, however, submitted that no final decision has been taken till date with regard to constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board for the Hojai Sub-Division. 7. In response, Mr. Dhar, learned Standing Counsel, WPT&BC Department has submitted that the writ petition appears to be premature in nature as no final decision has been made as regards constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board for the Hojai Sub-Division. He has submitted that the constitution of a Scheduled Castes Development Board is to be made only as per the guidelines framed by the Government in this regard. He has also submitted that the matter regarding constitution of Scheduled Castes Development Boards are governed by the notifications dated 20.02.2014, 12.09.2014 and 08.05.2015. The notifications have provided for a Selection Committee comprising of 3 (three) members with the Minister, Scheduled Castes Welfare as its Chairman. He has also submitted that the matter regarding constitution of Scheduled Castes Development Boards are governed by the notifications dated 20.02.2014, 12.09.2014 and 08.05.2015. The notifications have provided for a Selection Committee comprising of 3 (three) members with the Minister, Scheduled Castes Welfare as its Chairman. The notifications have also laid down about the qualifications as well as disqualifications about membership for such Development Board. He has, thus, submitted that since no final decision has been taken regarding constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board for the Hojai Sub-Division the writ petition can be disposed of with a direction to the respondent authorities to proceed for constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board for the Hojai Sub-Division strictly in terms of the norms and criteria laid down by the notifications dated 20.02.2014, 12.09.2014 and 08.05.2015, by considering the credentials of the persons who have submitted their candidatures for such chairmanship/vice-chairmanship/memberships. 8. Mr. Pathak, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner has agreed to the submission of the learned Standing Counsel, WPT&BC Department and submitted that the writ petition can be disposed of with such directions. 9. I have considered the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties and have also perused the materials on record including the notifications dated 20.02.2014, 12.09.2014 and 08.05.2015. 10. By a notification dated 20.02.2014, the Government in the WPT&BC Department had issued a set of guidelines relating to constitution of Scheduled Castes (SC)/Scheduled Tribes (ST)/Other Backward Classes (OBC) Development Boards at all Sub-Divisional Welfare Offices (SDWOs) and constitution of PIC in Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) Offices. As per the said guidelines, each Development Board/PIC shall consist of a minimum of 15 members which shall have a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman to be appointed by the Government. It has further provided for 30% seats for women. The qualifications and disqualifications for membership to the Development Board/PIC are also laid down in the said notification. The function of the Development Boards/PICs are inter alia to select and approve list of schemes/beneficiaries under various developmental programmes funded by the Government and to oversee implementation of development schemes executed by various sectoral departments of the State Government for the benefit of the relevant community. The function of the Development Boards/PICs are inter alia to select and approve list of schemes/beneficiaries under various developmental programmes funded by the Government and to oversee implementation of development schemes executed by various sectoral departments of the State Government for the benefit of the relevant community. The other functions are to ensure implementation of schemes and proper utilization of grants under the WPT Department and to review the SC/ST/OBC/ITDP Schemes and offer suggestions on proper implementation of the same to the State Government. On 12.09.2014, another notification of even date was issued in partial modification of the earlier notification dated 20.02.2014. The subsequent notification has laid down that a prospective candidate will have to make application for appointment as Chairman/Members and submit the same to the Government in the WPT&BC Department along with the recommendation from the concerned Deputy Commissioner/Minister (In-Charge) as per the format prescribed at Annexure-A therein. It has further laid down that the term of office of the Development Board shall not exceed three years. In partial modification of the notification dated 20.02.2014, another notification dated 08.05.2015 came to be issued whereby Clause no. I (iv) of the earlier notification dated 20.02.2014 providing for constitution of the SC/ST/OBC Development Boards/PICs has been altered. As per the said notification dated 08.05.2015, there shall be a Selection Committee for selection of the Chairman/Vice-Chairman and Members of the Sub-Divisional SC Development Boards comprising of (i) the Minister, Scheduled Caste Welfare – Chairman; (ii) the senior most Secretary of the Department or his representative not below the rank of Deputy Secretary – Member; and (iii) the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Assam -Member Secretary. The procedure for selection has also been mentioned therein. The Member Secretary of the Selection Committee will submit a proposal to the WPT&BC Department after it is duly approved in the Selection Committee. The proposal has to clearly indicate that the proposed Chairman/Vice-Chairman/Members are qualified and not disqualified as per the guidelines. 11. As mentioned above, the learned counsel for the parties have submitted that no final decision has yet been taken regarding constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board for the Hojai Sub-Division till date. The notifications (supra) have already provided for the composition of the Selection Committee and the Selection Committee has been vested with the responsibility to consider the applications with due regard to the criteria of qualification and disqualification. The notifications (supra) have already provided for the composition of the Selection Committee and the Selection Committee has been vested with the responsibility to consider the applications with due regard to the criteria of qualification and disqualification. The candidature of a candidate has to be recommended by the Deputy Commissioner/Minister (In-Charge) concerned as per the prescribed format. The Member Secretary of the Selection Committee after considering the candidatures of the candidates, is required to submit a proposal to the WPT&BC Department after such proposal is duly approved by the Selection Committee. Such proposal is also required to contain about the qualification or disqualification of the proposed Chairman/Vice-Chairman/Members in terms of the guidelines. While issuing notice, this Court on 25.01.2021, had observed that any consequential order on the basis of the impugned letter dated 28.12.2020 shall be subject to outcome of the writ petition. As no final decision as regards constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board for the Hojai Sub-Division has been taken till date, as per the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, this Court is of the view that instead of keeping the writ petition pending it is appropriate to dispose of the same with a direction to the respondent authorities to decide about the constitution of the Scheduled Castes Development Board for the Hojai Sub-Division strictly in terms of the norms and criteria laid down by the notifications dated 20.02.2014, 12.09.2014 and 08.05.2015 within a reasonable time period, preferably within a period of 2 (two) months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. It is accordingly ordered. It is, however, made clear that this Court has not made any observation on merits as regards the claims of any of the candidates from the two lists pending before the respondent authorities for chairmanship/vice-chairmanship/memberships to the Scheduled Castes Development Board for the Hojai Sub-Division and it is left to the Selection Committee to decide about their candidatures strictly in terms of the notifications dated 20.02.2014, 12.09.2014 and 08.05.2015. 12. The writ petition stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms. No cost.