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1994 Supreme(Cal) 231
High Court of Calcutta
Samaresh Banerjea, J.
Ainal Haque – Appellant
Versus
State Of West Bengal – Respondent
Decided On : Aug 04, 1994
L.C. Behani, Rabindra Nath Das, S.C. Ukil, Sadhan Roy Chowdhury, Suchandra Mukherjee
Headnote:
CLASSIFICATION - EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION - PROMOTION - VALIDITY - REASONABLENESS - WRIT PETITION - DISMISSED. Held: Classification made in the impugned notifications are quite valid and proper and are not violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioners, who are Muharrirs and Copyists in the office of Behala Additional District Sub-Registration, Alipore and Calcutta Assurances, have challenged the impugned Government Orders by which a classification was made between the Matriculate and non Matriculate and School Final pass and non School Final pass Muharrirs for the purpose of promotion in the Lower Division Cadre. The petitioners contended that the impugned action of the respondents in making classification on the basis of educational qualification namely whether one is Matriculate or non Matriculate and whether one: is School Final or non School Final is permissible and valid. The respondents contended that the impugned classification has been made by the Government as a matter of Government policy to bring about the uniformity in the matter of recruitment in all Government departments and also for efficiency of administration.
Finding of the Court:
The classification made in the impugned notifications are quite valid and proper and are not violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The contention of the writ petitioners that the result of holding such classification would amount to stagnation for the writ petitioners and other non Matriculate and non School Final pass extra muharrir, is also not tenable as it appears from the facts arid circumstances of the case that for such class of persons a separate channel of promotion have been made. The fact that such separate channel of promotion allegedly may have narrowed down the avenue of promotion or chance of promotion is however not a relevant consideration as chance of promotion is not a condition of service.
Issues: Whether the classification made in the impugned notifications are quite valid and proper and are not violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
Ratio Decidendi: 1. Classification on the ground of academic qualification is permissible. 2. The impugned classification has been made by the Government as a matter of Government policy to bring about the uniformity in the matter of recruitment in all Government departments and also for efficiency of administration. 3. The classification made in the instant case is to introduce an uniform pattern in clerical establishment after changed circumstances as aforesaid and to raise the standard of work of Upper Division Clerk, and for efficiency in administration the classification is certainly reasonable and co-related to the object, higher educational qualifications being at least prima facie evidence of higher mental equipment.
Final Decision: The writ application in both the cases are therefore dismissed. All interim orders stand vacated there will be no order as to costs.
1. IN C. O. No. 13545 (W) of 1989 Memo no. 2987-Regn. dated 13th December, 1989, memo No. 2989- Regn. dated december, 1989 and Memo No. 2991-Regn. dated 13th December, issued by the Secretary, Judicial Department, are challenged by 8 writ petitioners, some of whom are Muharrir in the office of Behala Additional District Sub-Registration, Alipore and some are Copyists in the office of Calcutta Assurances.
2. THE case as made out in the writ petition is inter alia as follows: the writ petitioner no. 1 to 5 and 8 were appointed as extra Muharrirs under the District Registrar, 24 Parganas, from which post the said petitioners no. 1 to 5 nd 8 were promoted to the post of L. R. Act Muharrirs. The said writ petitioners are still working in the post of Muharrirs under the District Registrar, 24 Parganas, (South. The writ petitioners no. 6 and 7 were appointed initially as extra copyists and thereafter they were promoted to the post of copyist since when the writ petitioners no. 6 and 7 have been working in the said post under the Registrar of; Assurances, Calcutta. In the matter of appointment in the post of extra Muharrirs and/or copyists there was qualification bar and/or criterion, namely there was no question of passing the School Final and/or Matriculation Examination as a condition precedent for such appointment.
3. THE promotional channel from the said post of extra Muharrirs was as follows: from extra Muharrirs to L. R. Act Muharrirs, from L. R. Act Muharrirs to Muharrirs, from Muharrirs to Lower Division Clerk and thence to Upper Division Clerk and to the post of Head Clerk.
4. SINCE there was no such bar of educational qualification in the matter of appointment vis-a-vis promotion as indicated above, the extra Muharrirs appointed in the office of the Inspector General of Registration were promoted from the post of extra Muharrirs and thence to the Lower Division Clerk and then from Lower Division Clerk to Upper Division Clerk and to the post of Head Clerk. There being no qualification bar in regard to appointment and promotion, 7 non Matriculate and non School Final Muharrirs were promoted up to the stage of Head Clerk and 5 persons were also promoted to the post of Upper Division Clerk, who are also non Metric and non School Final in between 1986 and 1989 The writ petitioners and the aforesaid staff thus being similarly circumstanced in the matter of their appointment in the post of extra Muharrirs there cannot be any reason to discriminate amongst the said staffs so as to deprive the petitioners' of their promotional opportunities to the post of Lower Division Clerk, then Upper Division Clerk and thence to the Head Clerk in the office of the Inspector General of Registration.
5. THE School Final and the Matriculate Muharrirs were not in an distinguished from the non School Final and non Matriculate Muharrirs and the fact that they were for all practical purposes treated at par will be evident from the fact that for both the said two categories of Muharrirs a single combined gradation list was maintained on the basis of their respective dates of entry into service as Muharrirs vide Inspector General of Registration's Memo No. 9192 (19) dated 21st October, 1970.
6. IN terms of memo No. 903-Regn. dated 8th May, 1978 being Annexure D to the writ petition all the existing extra Muharrirs including the writ petitioners were absorbed in the post of Muharrirs and in this way the said extra Maharrirs were brought under the regular salary-establishment of the Inspector General of Registration, West Bengal. By reason of such regularization and/or absorption all the Muhrrirs both School Final pass and non School Final candidates were brought at par for all purposes. Hence, there cannot be any artificial and ad hoc classification brought about on the basis of alleged educational qualification so as to divert the writ petitioners of the benefits, which thus accrued to them in the matter of their promotion to the next higher post
