Tulsi Mahato vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2022 Latest Caselaw 3176 Cal

13-06-2022
 ct no. 13
  Sl. 9
   sp
                            WPA 19795 of 2018
                              Tulsi Mahato
                               -Versus-
                   The State of West Bengal & Ors.

             Mr.   Shibal Acharya,
             Mr.   Sougata Mitra,
             Mr.   Rameswar Sinha,
             Mr.   Swagatam Deb
                                             ....for the petitioner

             Mr. Supriya Chattapadhyay,
             Ms. Iti Dutta
                                                 .......for the State



                      The petitioner joined service in the school as

             school teacher in Language Group on November 3,

             1997.

                      The petitioner seeks higher pay being Post

             Graduate Scale of pay, after having acquired Post

             Graduate Degree sometime in the year 2003.

                      Admittedly, the permission of the D.I. of

             Schools was not taken for acquiring higher

             qualification.    Such     permission/concurrence    is

             required to enable the State to ascertain as to

             whether it would in any way be benefited from the

             higher     qualification    being   acquired   by   the

             petitioner.

                      Since no permission from the State has

             been sought, the need of the State for a higher

             qualified employee remains unascertained and
                          2




undetermined. There is therefore no benefit to the

State from the petitioner's higher qualification. It

is for inter alia this purpose and to address the

anomaly    between       the    right   to   higher     scale

pursuant to higher qualification that the "Control

and Expenditure Act" was brought into force by

the State in 2005. In light of the larger perspective

and the entitlement and benefit of higher pay-

scale pursuant to higher qualification under the

aforementioned Act, this Court is of the view that

the petitioner may not be entitled to higher pay

scale for higher qualification.

      However,     the       learned    counsel   for    the

petitioner has placed a judgment of a Division

Bench of this Court dated January 31, 2014,

passed in WP 14760 (W) of 2004 (Rabi Kanta

Barman Vs. State of West Bengal). It has been

held that an Assistant Teacher appointed in a

Graduate Scale of Pay, would be entitled to higher

Post Graduate Pay Scale, if he acquires such

qualification with the permission of the school,

even if no permission has been granted by the

State (D.I. of Schools).

      This Court is bound by the said decision of

the Division Bench.

      In that view of the matter, WPA 19795 of

2018 is allowed, directing the respondent to grant

higher Post Graduate Scale of Pay to the petitioner

from date.

There shall be no order as to costs.

All parties shall act on the server copy of

this order duly downloaded from the official

website of this Court.

(Rajasekhar Mantha, J.)