WP(C) 265/2011 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE B.P. KATAKEY The petitioners, who are the members of the Block Level Selection Committee cons tituted by the Govt. of Assam and as notified vide notification dated 28.9.2010 issued by the Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Panchayat and Rural Devel opment Department, by the present petition, have challenged the process of selec tion of beneficiaries for extending the benefit under the Chief Minister’s Speci al Scheme for providing cash assistance to Rural Artisan/Marginal Entrepreneur f or the year 2010-2011. I have heard Mr. HRA Choudhury, learned senior counsel for the petitioners and M s VL Singh, learned State counsel appearing for the respondents. The contention of the petitioners in the present petition is that for implementa tion of the aforesaid scheme a guideline was formulated requiring constitution o f the selection committee and laying down the procedure for selection of the ben eficiaries. Under the said scheme it requires that the selection committee const ituted vide notification dated 28.9.2010 shall approve the list of beneficiaries as per block wise target, which list shall be published inviting claims and obj ections, if any, and thereafter to finalise the same by the said selection commi ttee. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner though the first meeti ng of the said committee was held on 15.12.2010 wherein it was resolved to assem ble again on 18.12.2010 for the purpose of finalization of the list of beneficia ries, no meeting was thereafter held for finalization of the list of beneficiari es as required under the guideline issued for that purpose. In the affidavit-in-opposition filed by the Block Development Officer, it has be en admitted that the first meeting of the committee was held on 15.12.2010 and t hereafter no meeting was held though scheduled on 18.12.2010. The learned State counsel appearing for the State respondents referring to the a verments made in the affidavit-in-opposition filed by the Block Development Offi cer and also the written instruction received from the Project Director, DRDA, B ongaigaon has submitted that though no meeting of the selection committee was he ld on 18.12.2010, the list of beneficiaries was prepared by the Block Developmen t Officer and the President of the Anchalik Panchayat, which was submitted to th e Minister, Excise and Border Areas, Govt. of Assam, who was the Minister in-cha rge of the Bongaigaon district and accordingly the Minister approved the said li st and returned the same to the BDO concerned. I have considered the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties. The guideline formulated for implementation of the aforesaid scheme clearly prov ides that the block level committee constituted vide notification dated 28.9.201 0 shall be the selection committee to select the beneficiaries. The said guideli ne also provides the procedure for selection of the beneficiaries. It requires t hat all the applications are to be submitted to the Block Development Officer, w ho upon due verification put up the list of all eligible applicants in the meeti ng of the selection committee and on approval of such list of beneficiaries the same is to be published locally inviting claims and objections, if any. In the e vent of filing any claims and objections the Block Development Officer is requir ed to verify and finalize the list of which is to be placed before the selection committee for final approval. The Project Director is required to co-ordinate t he process with the Block Development Officer concerned. In the instant case, as noticed above, though the selection committee for the fi rst time met on 15.12.2010 and the list of 210 applications were placed before i t, the decision was taken to finalize the said list in the next meeting schedule d to be held on 18.12.2010. No meeting of the selection committee however had ta ken place thereafter. The Block Development Officer and the President of the Anc halik Panchayat on their own prepared the list and sent it to the Minister in-ch arge who is also the Chairman of the Committee for approval and accordingly the approval was accorded by the Chairman and thus finalizing the list of beneficiar ies. The process of inviting claims and objections as required under the aforesa id guideline has not been initiated. Moreover the said list was never approved b y the committee as required under the said guideline. The approval by the Minist er concerned cannot amount to approval by the selection committee. That being the position, the list so finalized by the Block Development Officer with the assistance of the President of the Anchalik Panchayat and approved by t he Minister in-charge is set aside. The authority may proceed afresh with the selection of the beneficiaries under t he said scheme if it desires to continue with the said scheme which was for the period of 2010-2011. The writ petition is accordingly allowed to the extent indicated above. No cost.