Point of Law: Service -Having all qualifications required for recruitment of Assistant Professors – If a person is put to officiate on a higher post with greater responsibilities, he is normally entitled to salary of that post. -

JUDGMENT :

S. TALAPATRA, J.

1. All these writ petitions being W.P. (C) No. 1391 of 2019 [Dr. Manabendra Debnath vs. State of Tripura and Others], W.P. (C) No. 1392 of 2019 [Alpana Bhattacharya vs. State of Tripura and Others], W.P. (C) No. 1393 of 2019 [Dr. Jyotirmoy Sharma vs. State of Tripura and Others], W.P. (C) No. 1394 of 2019 [Subir Sekhar Adhikari vs. State of Tripura and Others] and W.P. (C) No. 1395 of 2019 [Dr. Mousami Gupta (Sengupta) vs. State of Tripura and Others] are combined for disposal by a common judgment inasmuch as the grievances of the petitioners as enumerated in the respective writ petitions arise from a common factual background. Even, the reliefs as sought are similar and there can be no distinction in the manner the submissions have been made.

2. Mr. A. Bhowmik, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has made his submission having referred to the averments and the documents placed in W.P. (C) No. 1391 of 2019 [Dr. Manabendra Debnath vs. State of Tripura and Others]. The brief facts, which are essential to appreciate the plea as raised in the writ petitions, can be noted at the outset. The petitioners were appointed as post graduate teachers in the scale of pay of Rs. 5,310-24,000/- with grade pay of Rs. 2,400/- on 26.06.2010. So far the writ petitioners of W.P. (C) No. 1391 of 2019, W.P. (C) No. 1392 of 2019 and the petitioners in W.P. (C) No. 1395 of 2019 are concerned, they were appointed as the post graduate teacher on 10.06.2010. When the petitioners were appointed as the post graduate teacher by the memorandum dated 26.06.2010 [Annexure-4 to the writ petition being W.P. (C) No. 1391 of 2019], in the said memorandum it had been clearly mentioned that “the aforesaid PGTs are posted to the colleges as indicated in column No. 4 of the said memorandum.” The post against which the petitioners were entertained, according to the Directorate of Higher Education, those posts are purely personal posts and will be abolished as and when the incumbents retired from the services or resigned from the post. Before the petitioners were appointed as the post graduate teachers they were recruited as Part-Time Contract Teacher (PTCT) through a selection process as initiated by an advertisement which was published in the year 2001. As the petitioners were eligible for qualification as laid down in the said advertisement, they were participated in the selection and selected through the interview which was held on 26.12.2001. Accordingly, the petitioners were engaged as the PTCT and they were continuing in the said engagement. Thereafter, in the year 2010, the State of Tripura took a policy decision to regularise 292 PTCTs as post graduate teacher in the scale of pay of Rs. 5,310-24,000/- with grade pay of Rs. 2,400/- with other allowances by the memorandum dated 26.10.2010 or 10.06.2010.

3. Mr. Bhowmik, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners have candidly admitted that when the petitioners were appointed as the post-graduate teacher, they did not have the qualification for appointment as the Assistant Professor in the degree colleges as per the University Grants Commission's guidelines. Mr. Bhowmik, learned counsel having referred the notification dated 25.06.2019 [Annexure-8 to the lead writ petition], has contended that there are only three categories of posts in the cadre of teachers under state universities and colleges. Those designation/posts are Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor. According to the petitioners, in the entire hierarchy, there is no such post called post-graduate teacher but the respondents have been running the degree colleges by the post graduate teachers, in serious contravention of the UGC guidelines. After the petitioners were recruited as the post graduate teachers, all the petitioners have acquired the required eligibility criteria and they are now eligible to be appointed as the Assistant Professor. In this regard, the petitioners have placed their testimonial