JUDGMENT :

Arindam Mukherjee, J.

1. The petitioner was appointed on purely temporary basis as a Group-C employee in Ranju Valley Junior High School (respondent no.8). The appointment letter issued by the said school is dated 16th September, 2010 and the joining date as per the joining report annexed to the writ petition is dated 1st July, 2015. The petitioner says that he has been rendering service in the said school continuously since then.

2. It is also the case of the petitioner that the said school was recognized as a new set up, and as such the posts of teaching and non- teaching staff are deemed to have been granted as without such sanction, the school could not function. The petitioner is seeking regularization of his services.

3. The application of the School Service Commission constituted under the West Bengal School Service Commission Act, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the 1997 Act) has been restricted in respect the erstwhile Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (in short, DGHC), which is presently known as Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (in short, GTA), in view of the provisions of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Act 2011, has admittedly remained suspended from a long time in past. Subsequent to the suspension of the application of the 1997 Act, in respect of DGHC the District Inspector of Schools (SE), DGHC, Darjeeling was directed by a memo dated 16th September, 2010 by the Secretary, Department of Education, DGHC, Darjeeling to follow the usual procedure for appointment of non-teaching staff in secondary schools under DGHC till the constitution of the School Service Commission in hill area.

4. The procedure adopted in appointing the petitioner on temporary basis, therefor, cannot be flouted in view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances. It is also not in dispute that the petitioner has rendered continuous service since 1st July, 2015.

5. The issue of regularization of teaching and non-teaching staff in the schools under GTA has fallen consideration in several matters before this Court. In one of such writ petitions relating to non-teaching staff the order passed by the learned Single Judge directing regularization of the non-teaching staff was challenged before the Division Bench in MAT 170 of 2023 (Gorkhaland Territorial Administration & Ors. vs. Thinley Bhutia & Ors.). The said appeal was disposed of by an order dated 16th August, 2024 upholding the order of the learned Single Judge directing the regularization of the non-teaching staff. Subsequent to such order by an office order dated 5th September, 2024, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Department of Education regularized the services of several Group-C and Group-D staff in different schools under GTA.

6. The issue as to regularization of the teaching staff similarly fell for consideration before the Court in several matters. The order of the learned Single Judge in WPA 727 of 2023 dated 12th May, 2023 directing regularization of a teacher in a school appointed on contractual basis against a permanent sanctioned post was assailed before the Division Bench in MAT 203 of 2023 (The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration & Anr. Vs. Ajay Kumar Kharka). A Division Bench of this Court by a judgment and order dated 13th September, 2024 had upheld the order of the learned Single Judge, being the order impugned in the said appeal. In course of hearing of the said MAT 203 of 2023, the appellant therein (respondent nos. 1, 2 and 3 in this writ petition) had contended that the judgment and order dated 16th August, 2024 of a Coordinate Appellate Court in MAT 170 of 2023 being passed in respect of non-teaching staff was not applicable in respect of a teaching staff, being the subject matter of the said appeal, being MAT 203 of 2023. The Division Bench overruled such contention and finally held that in a case where an Assistant Teacher is appointed on temporary basis in a government aided school during the subsistence of vacancies in the permanent sanctioned