A Government employee cannot be sent on deputation without his consent.

Sanjib Banerjee, J.

The petitioner has been functioning as the head of the department of agricultural chemistry and soil science at the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya since October 1, 2014. The petitioner complains of the petitioner being forcibly sent on deputation in an autocratic exercise of authority by the vice-chancellor of the university who is temporarily vested with the powers of the executive council thereof.

2. In November, 2012, the executive council, the board of studies and the faculty council of the university were dissolved by the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (Temporary Super-session) Act, 2012 and a new council was formed with similar powers as the erstwhile executive council. Within a few days of the said Act of 2012 coming into effect, the Governor as the chancellor of the university appointed the petitioner on the said council. At a meeting of such council held on May 21, 2014, whereat the petitioner was present, the council set up a committee for establishing an extended campus of the university at Burdwan Sadar and another at Sisunia.

3. It appears that the temporary statute of 2012 was enacted for the purpose of disbanding the existing decision-making body in the university and for ultimately enacting the procedure for representation on such body. On November 24, 2014 the temporary council of the university, of which the petitioner was a member, was dissolved and the vice-chancellor was given authority to discharge all duties and functions of the council till such time that the new enactment came into force. By the end of 2014, the West Bengal Krishi Viswavidyalaya Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014, had been passed by the State assembly and published in the official gazette. All that was necessary for such Act to apply to the university was the publication of the notification in the official gazette to indicate the appointed date.

4. In March, 2015, the State Government called upon the university to constitute the executive council since the relevant statute had come into effect upon the appointed date being notified, whereupon the university wrote back to the Government that it would take some time for conducting the elections to constitute the executive council. According to the petitioner, the excuse that was proffered by the university was at the behest of the vice-chancellor so that the vice-chancellor could wield complete authority over the university without any accountability to the executive council. The petitioner claims that since he was the general secretary of the Adhyapak Samity of the university he requested the vice-chancellor on April 10, 2015 to take expeditious steps to form the executive council. The petitioner submits that the vice-chancellor did not take kindly to the petitioner's temerity of making such request.

5. By the late afternoon of April 10, 2015, the petitioner received an order by which the petitioner was posted on deputation to the extended campus of the university at the College of Agriculture at Burdwan with effect from May 16, 2015. The impugned notice indicated that the vice-chancellor had "been pleased to approve the placement of the teachers at A and B below to the College of Agriculture at Burdwan Sadar on deputation basis for a period until further orders..." The petitioner's name was at the top of the list and he was required to join his posting on deputation by May 16, 2015. The reason ascribed was that it was "in the interest of the University for developing the new College at Burdwan." By the same order of April 10, 2015, the petitioner was called upon to hand over the charge of "Headship" of the department to the "next senior most Professor of the Department."

6. The petitioner made an immediate representation to the vice-chancellor on April 13, 2015, claiming that the petitioner being sent on deputation amounted to depriving the petitioner of the privileges as the head of a department. The petitioner emphasised that he was the supervisor for four do