Baishakhi Mandal & Ors vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 675 Cal

20.01.2023
Item No. 04.
Court No.6.
    S. De
                               F.M.A. 1399 of 2022
                                        with
                               I.A. No. CAN/1/2022

                             Baishakhi Mandal & Ors.
                                        Vs
                          The State of West Bengal & Ors.

                     Mr. Chittaranjan Chakraborty,
                     Mr. Dipjyoti Chakraborty,
                     Mr. Sumit Banerjee,
                                       ...for the appellants.
                     Mr. Gangadhar Das,
                     Mr. Tanmoy Chattopadhyay,
                                       ...for the respondent no.5.

Ms. Sweta Mukherjee, Mr. Anupam Dasadhikari, ...for the State.

By consent of the parties, the appeal and the

connected application are taken up together for

hearing.

A judgment and order dated September 21,

2022, whereby the writ petition of the appellants being

WPA 21432 of 2022 was disposed of, is under

challenge in this appeal.

The appellants, being fourteen in number,

approached the learned Single Judge with the case

that they had been engaged as additional work force at

Amrity Gram Panchayat sometime in 2017. They

alleged that a panel prepared subsequently in 2021

reflected the names of the writ petitioners. Without

cancelling such panel, the concerned authorities

prepared another panel wherein the names of friends

and relatives of the authorities were included and the

names of the writ petitioner were excluded.

Allegations of nepotism and favouritism were made.

The learned Judge recorded the submission

made on behalf of the State that an enquiry has been

initiated by the State Government and the Additional

Executive Officer, Malda Zilla Parishad who is the

Additional District Magistrate, has been entrusted with

the conduct of the enquiry with regard to the validity

of the panel dated January 25, 2022. The learned

Judge granted full opportunity to the writ petitioners

to participate in the enquiry before the Additional

District Magistrate. The learned Judge directed the

report of the Additional District Magistrate to be

placed before the Special Secretary, Panchayat and

Rural Development Department, Government of West

Bengal who was directed to take necessary steps in

accordance with law. The learned Judge further

clarified that all steps which have been taken in the

mean time, shall abide by the decision of the Special

Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development

Department, Government of West Bengal. Finally, the

learned Judge observed that if the allegations of the

writ petitioners are proved to be correct and the

authorities find that there were illegalities in the

process, necessary orders in that regard shall be

passed by the Special Secretary, Panchayat and Rural

Development Department, Government of West

Bengal.

Being aggrieved, the writ petitioners have come

up by way of this appeal.

The sole point urged before us is that since the

allegations are of a very serious nature, it would be

appropriate if the District Magistrate holds the enquiry

instead of the Additional District Magistrate.

We find some substance in such submission.

Further, learned advocate for the State does not have

any objection to such course of action.

Learned advocate for the Pradhan however, says

that it is not necessary that the District Magistrate

should be substituted in the place of the Additional

District Magistrate. The allegations are frivolous and

completely devoid of merits. The Panchayat will be at

liberty to argue such point before the authority

conducting the enquiry.

We are of the considered opinion that in view of

the allegations of corruption, nepotism and

favouritism, which are quite serious allegations

against the Pradhan and Upo-Pradhan of the

concerned Panchayat, it will be in the fitness of things,

if the District Magistrate who is the administrative

head of the concerned District, conducts the enquiry

instead of the Additional District Magistrate. This will

however, not be taken to be any reflection on the

efficiency or competence of the Additional District

Magistrate.

Accordingly, we modify the order under appeal

only to the extent that the District Magistrate, Malda

District, shall carry forward the enquiry that is

pending before the Additional District Magistrate and

shall file a report before the Special Secretary,

Panchayat and Rural Development Department,

Government of West Bengal as expeditiously as

possible. The other portions of the order under appeal

remain unaltered.

We have not gone into the correctness or

otherwise of the allegations made by the writ

petitioners. The District Magistrate who will

henceforth be the enquiring authority will take a

decision in that regard after giving opportunity of

hearing to all concerned parties.

Since we have not called for affidavits, the

allegations contained in the stay application are

deemed not to be admitted by the respondents.

F.M.A. 1399 of 2022 is disposed of along with

the application being I.A. No. CAN 1 of 2022.

Urgent certified photostat copy of this order, if

applied for, shall be given to the parties as

expeditiously as possible on compliance with all the

necessary formalities.

(Apurba Sinha Ray, J.) (Arijit Banerjee, J.)