( 1 ) THE writ petitioners of all these writ petitions are aggrieved by and victims of the decisions of the School Education Department (Secondary Branch) of the Government of West Bengal as communicated by its Assistant Secretary to the Director of School Education under his No. 904-SE (Secy) dated the 19th December, 1994, the relevant portion of which runs thus :-"sub: Claim for higher scale of Pay from teachers enhancing qualification from Himachal Pradesh University through correspondence course. "the undersigned is directed to refer to the subject noted above and to say that the State Government in Education (School) Department as a matter of policy, have not agreed to recognise a decree /diploma/ Master Degree etc. acquired through correspondence course from any University etc, as equivalent to a regular course conducted by recognised Universities. "as such, the question of extending the benefit of higher scale for acquiring such a degree/diploma/master Degree through correspondence course does not arise. "in all the writ petitions the validity of the aforesaid G. O. No. 904-SE (Secy) dt. 19. 12. 94 has been challenged.

( 2 ) IN C. O. 1622 (W)/96 (Ka