IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION APPELLATE SIDE Present:

THE HON’BLE JUSTICE HARISH TANDON &

THE HON’BLE JUSTICE PRASENJIT BISWAS FMA 439 of 2021 CAN 1 of 2022 Suprakash Pramanik Vs.

State of West Bengal &Ors.

Appearance:

For the Appellant : Mr. Subir Sanyal, Adv.

Mr. Sagnik Roy Chowdhury, Adv.

Mr. Trijit Mitra, Adv.

For the State : Mr. Asish Kumar Guha, Adv.

Mr. Benazir Ahmed, Adv.

Ms. Srijani Mukherjee, Adv.

For the UGC : Mr. Anil Kumar Gupta, Adv.

For the University : Mr. Pourush Bandyopadhyay, Adv.

Mr. Kausik De, Adv.

Mr. Raghav Munshi, Adv.

Ms. Mohini Majumder, Adv.

For the College Authority : Mr. Md. Manwar Ali, Adv.

Ms. Bratati Dutta, Adv.

Judgment On : 27.02.2025 Harish Tandon, J.:

Pursuant to the advertisement published by the Bankura Christian College in the year 2012 to fill up the various posts including 2 posts reserved for Librarian on permanent basis, the petitioner applied for such post and was selected by the Selection Committee constituted as per the Rules of the said college. The petitioner was served with the Letter of Appointment dated 16.11.2015 to join the post of a Librarian on or before 30th November, 2015 and to remain on probation for a period of one year from the date of joining subject to the confirmation and/or approval by the Competent Authority. Admittedly, the writ petitioner/appellant joined the said post on 23rd November, 2015 and completed one year by rendering services. Undisputedly, the services rendered by the writ petitioner/appellant was found satisfactory by the college and the letter was communicated to the Competent Authority for granting approval of such services which was denied by the Director of Public Instruction, Education Directorate, Government of West Bengal, Kolkata as the writ petitioner/appellant did not qualify for the National Eligibility Test (NET) which is mandatory under the UGC norms and guidelines for the candidate having M.Phil Degree in Library Science. By causing such letter and being an admitted fact that the writ petitioner/appellant did not qualify NET, the College Authority requested the writ petitioner/appellant to resign from the said post on or before 22^nd November, 2016. The petitioner challenged the said letter in the writ petition being WP 28804 (W) of 2016 primarily on the ground that the regulations and the guidelines/notification issued by the UGC from time to time exempt the M.Phil Degree holder in qualifying the NET and, therefore, the stand of the Director of Public Instruction, Government of West Bengal is per se illegal. The reliance was placed upon several notifications spanning over the period from 2006-2016 issued by the University Grants Commission in support of the stand that the award of a degree to the candidate registered for M.Phil/PhD programme prior to July 11, 2009 shall be governed by the Provisions of the then existing bye- laws/regulations of the institutions awarding the degree and shall be exempted from the requirement of NET/SLET/SET for recruitment and appointment to the posts in the universities/colleges/institutions.

The Director of Public Instruction was arraigned as Respondent no. 2 in the writ petition as well as in the instant appeal and in Affidavit-in- Opposition filed before the Single Bench took a stand that the Gazette notification dated July 11, 2016 as relied upon by the writ petitioner/appellant is not applicable as the selection process was initiated in the year 2012 much prior to the issuance thereof. It is further averred that since the decision of the University Grants Commission taken in the 472nd Meeting was never circulated and/or communicated to the college and, therefore, the selection procedure cannot be guided by the minutes of the said meeting. The college relied upon the Gazette notification of the UGC dated 30th June, 2010 which supersedes the earlier regulation of UGC-2000 wherein no exemption for M.Phil degree holder was extended. Interestingly, a plea was taken that the M.Phil degree awar