Court affirmed that Instructors (Social Studies and English) are included in the cadre of Senior Instructor per prior ruling, warranting eligibility for promotion to Supervisor.

JUDGMENT :

N. UNNI KRISHNAN NAIR, J.

1. Heard Mr. S. Borthakur, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. S.P. Das, learned standing counsel, Employment and Craftsmen Training appearing for the respondents.

2. The petitioners in the present proceeding have prayed for a direction upon the respondent authorities for promoting them from the cadre of Senior Instructor to the cadre of Supervisor by reckoning that the post of Instructor (Social Studies) and Instructor (English language) as held by them to be included within the cadre of “Senior Instructor” as finding mention in Rule 3(c)(iv) of the Assam Craftsman Training Service Rules , 1993 (in short “the Rules of 1993).

3. The petitioner Nos. 1, 2 & 3 were appointed as Instructor (Social Studies) in the various Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) of the State on 24-10-1997, 27-12-1993 and 07-03-2010 respectively. The petitioner No. 4 similarly was appointed as Instructor (English language) in the ITI Guwahati on 17-03-2010. The petitioners on their appointment were extended with the scale of pay as authorized to the post of Senior Instructor, in terms of the scale of pay as set out in schedule-1 to the Rules of 1993. The petitioners contended that after their appointment, they had undergone the specified training course and passed the departmental examination as prescribed for the purpose of being considered for the next higher grade of Supervisor. The names of the petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 found place in the gradation list of Instructors of ITI (Subject Teacher) as published in the year 2005. Subsequently in the year 2012 a further gradation list of Instructors (Senior) (Technical), Instructor Mathematics (Technical), Engineering Drawing related Instructors of ITIs came to be published but the names of the petitioners, herein, did not find mention in the said gradation list. The persons similarly situated like the petitioners, herein, and holding the post of Instructor (Mathematics), being aggrieved by the exclusion of their names in the said gradation list of 2012, had approached this Court by way of instituting a writ petition being W.P.(C) No. 3537/2012. A Coordinate Bench of this Court upon interpreting the provisions of Rule 3(c)(iv), more particularly, by assigning a meaning to the term ‘Instructor’ as finding place in the said Rule, proceeded vide judgment and order dated 15-09-2014 to hold that the post of Instructor (Mathematics) and such other similar posts would be included in the cadre of Senior Instructor as appearing in Rule 3(c)(iv) of the Rules of 1993 and accordingly a direction came to be issued to the respondent authorities to prepare a gradation list containing the names of all the members of the Assam Craftsman Training Service who were working in the cadre of Senior Instructor. It is the projected case of the petitioner, herein, the in spite of the said determination being made by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in the W.P.(C) No. 3537/2012, the petitioners, herein, were not included in the gradation list of Senior Instructors and accordingly they were not considered for promotion to the next higher grade of Supervisor.

4. Mr. S. Borthakur, learned counsel for the petitioners by referring to the provisions of Rule 3(c)(iv) of the Rules of 1993 submits that the word ‘Instructor’ as mentioned therein includes the cadre of Instructor (Mathematics), Instructor (Social Studies), Instructor (English language) etc. he submits that in view of the said position, the petitioners, herein, are included within the cadre of Senior Instructor. He submits that the petitioners being included in the cadre of Senior Instructor, they are