The court ruled that a break in service of 85 days disqualified the petitioner from counting his past service for benefits, emphasizing adherence to proper application channels as required under UGC regulations.

JUDGMENT

1. Heard Mr. P. Roy Barman, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. S. Bhattacharjee, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner as well as Mr. D. Sharma, learned Addl. G.A. appearing for the respondents.

2. By means of this writ petition the petitioner has sought for redress of his grievance arising out of not counting his past service rendered by him in Karimganj College, Assam as Assistant Professor w.e.f. 19.09.2001 to 20.01.2020 before his joining in the same post under the Higher Education Department, Government of Tripura. The petitioner has urged before this court for necessary direction from the Hon'ble High Court upon the respondents for counting the past service rendered by the petitioner for all purposes.

3. The facts are mostly undisputed. The fact of the petitioner is that the petitioner is serving as Assistant Professor under the respondent No.2-The Director of Higher Education, Government of Tripura being posted at Netaji Subhas Mahavidyalaya, Udaipur, Gomati Tripura.

4. Initially, the petitioner joined in Karimganj College as permanent lecturer in the Department of Chemistry on 19.09.2001 in the pre-revised UGC pay scale of Rs.8000-13,500/-. Thereafter, the said scale was revised to Rs.15,600-39,100/- with academic grade pay of Rs.6000/-.

5. The Tripura Public Service Commission vide Advertisement No.04/2010 [Annexure-1 to the writ petition] invited online applications from bonafide India Citizens for recruitment to 246 posts of Assistant Professor [ST-172, SC-71], Reserved for differently abled (PH Locomotor)(UR) in subject/displines mentioned in the advertisement. In the said advertisement, it was stated that all the posts were grouped together for the purpose of reservation and shall not be segregated subject/discipline wise for identification for a particular category against any subject/discipline and in case of non-availability of required numbers of suitable SC/ST candidates the remaining vacancies upto a maximum ceiling of 102 will be filled by suitable general candidates. The advertisement contained the scale of pay, education and other qualification etc. the advertisement may be treated as a part of the pleading for reliance.

6. The petitioner has all the requisite qualifications to apply for the post of Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and applied through proper channel, with no objection from his employer, i.e. the Government of Assam. Thereafter, the petitioner was selected by the TPSC for the post of Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the TPSC recommended the name of the petitioner for appointment. Thereafter, vide memorandum dated 04.11.2020 issued by the Special Secretary, Director of Higher Education, Tripura the petitioner was offered a temporary post of Assistant Professor in the Chemistry (Group-A, Gazetted), Government General Degree College, in the revised pay band of Rs.15,600-39,100/- with AGP Rs.6000/- per month.

7. The petitioner accepted the offer of appointment in the post of Assistant Professor within the stipulated period. Thereafter, vide notification dated 27.12.2010 [Annexure-3 to the writ petition] issued by the Dy. Secretary to the Government of Tripura, Education (Higher) Department, the petitioner and 86 others were appointed as Assistant Professor (Group-A, Gazetted), General Degree College, in the pay ban of Rs.15,000-37,000/- with AGP of Rs.6000/- plus admissible allowances. The name of the petitioner appeared at Serial No.48 of the list and posting of the petitioner was given at Government Degree College, Dharmanagar, North Tripura.

8. The Principal Karimganj College, employer of the petitioner issued no objection and experience certificate dated 09.08.2010 in favour of the petitioner to the effect that the petitioner is a permanent lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, Karimganj College since 19.09.2001 and his authority has no objection if he joined Government Degree College, Education (Higher) Department, Government of Tripura and