IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CIRCUIT BENCH AT JALPAIGURI CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION (MANDAMUS APPEAL)

APPELLATE SIDE Present:-

The Hon’ble Justice Madhuresh Prasad And The Hon’ble Justice Supratim Bhattacharya M.A.T. 130 of 2023 Apu Sutradhar Vs.

State of West Bengal & Ors.

For the appellant : Mr. Rudranil De, Mr. Debojit Kundu For the State respondents : Mr. Hirak Barman, Ms. Bedashruti Bose Judgment on : 1^st May, 2025 Madhuresh Prasad, J.:

1. The issue arising for consideration in the present appeal is whether the petitioner/appellant is entitled to the benefits under memorandum dated 23.12.2019 issued by the Joint Secretary to the Government of West Bengal in the Higher Education Department. The memorandum was issued to grant a consolidated pay as a result of restructuring of service conditions of government approved Part Time Teachers (PTTs), government approved Contractual Whole Time Teachers (CWTTs) and Guest Teachers engaged in different government/government aided colleges in the State of West Bengal up to 13.07.2019.

2. The writ petitioner approached this Court earlier claiming benefits under the memorandum dated 23.12.2019, by filing writ petition bearing number W.P.A. 455 of 2022. The writ petition was disposed of on 07.03.2022 directing the respondents to pass a reasoned order on the claim of the petitioner under due intimation to the petitioner. The order was to be passed based on documents available in the office of the Director of Public Instructions (“DPI” for short). The DPI passed a reasoned order on 22.07.2022 holding the petitioner not entitled to any benefit of the memorandum dated

23.12.2019.

3. The reasoned order was assailed by the petitioner in the writ proceedings arising out of W.P.A. 2224 of 2022. The Hon‟ble Single Judge vide judgment dated 24.07.2023 has dismissed the writ petition, which is under appeal in the present proceedings.

4. The learned counsel for the writ petitioner/appellant submits that the memorandum dated 23.12.2019 was issued with the view to restructure the service conditions and nomenclature of PTTs, CWTTs and Guest Teachers. The memorandum dated 23.12.2019 contemplated restructuring of service conditions of such teachers, engaged by any nomenclature in the different government/government aided colleges. The memorandum dated 23.12.2019 did not have a hard and fast stipulation that only such Part Time or Contractual Teachers who have been engaged as per the three nomenclatures (PTTs, CWTTs and Guest Teachers) were to be beneficiary of the memorandum dated 23.12.2019. The nomenclature was explicitly irrelevant for the purposes of availing benefit under the memorandum dated 23.12.2019.

5. Having made such submission he draws attention of the Court towards the advertisement issued by the Officer-in-Charge (“OIC” for short) of the Acharya Bojendra Nath Seal College, (College for short) Cooch Behar for appointment of Teaching cum Learning Assistants and Library Project Assistants cum Date Entry Operator pursuant to which the petitioner was appointed. The appointment process was by a walk in interview to be conducted on 22.06.2018. The petitioner participated in the said walk in interview and emerged successful therein. The OIC thus issued a letter dated 26.06.2018 intimating the petitioner that he was selected as Teaching cum Learning Assistant (“TCLA” for short) in the Department of Philosophy at the college.

6. The petitioner thereafter was required to take classes in the college, conduct invigilation duty during examinations and also to evaluate answer sheets. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the appellant that having regard to the nature of duties performed by the petitioner, he was entitled to be considered as an equivalent to a “Guest Teacher”. He was thus entitled to benefit of the consolidated pay and nomenclature contemplated under the memorandum dated

23.12.2019.

7. The claim, however, was rejected by the Hon‟ble Single Judge relying upon the reasoned order dated 22.07.202