MC 252/2011 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE AMITAVA ROY THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE B.K. SHARMA Amitava Roy, J Heard Mr. MR Pathak, learned Standing Counsel, Education Department, Assam. The applicant-State in terms of the order dated 02.02.2011 of this Court has fil ed its supplementary affidavit on 20.04.2011. By the instant application, leave has been sought for from this court to allow the applicant to appoint Dropped T eachers of Provincialised Lower and Upper Primary/Middle Schools of Assam as fi nalized by the High Powered Committee constituted by the judgment and orders dat ed 01.09.2003 and 01.03.2007 passed by this Court in CR No. 1571/1998 (Jiban Cha ndra Deka & Ors.) and WP(C) No. 3976/2005 (Tapan Kumar Das & Ors.). The names of the identified dropped teachers have been empanelled in the lists appended to t he application as Annexures A & B, which incidentally also reflect their distric t wise seniority. Meanwhile, two teachers, namely, Binu Basumatary (Sl. No. 79 o f Kokrajhar district) in Annexure A and Mr. Nareswar Mushahari (Sl. No. 100 of K okrajhar district) in Annexure B, have joined other government service and, thus , have to be omitted from the lists of the dropped teachers for whose regulariza tion/adjustment the instant application has been filed. The pleadings available disclose that in terms of the aforementioned judgments a nd orders of this Court, the High Powered Committee at the first instance had id entified 192 teachers as dropped teachers in Provincialised Lower Primary School s of Assam and 93 teachers as Dropped Teachers in Provincialised Upper Primary S chools of Assam. However, as in course of time four such teachers had either ret ired or expired, the number got reduced to 281. With the exclusion of the above two teachers from the Kokrajhar District, the total number of dropped teachers o f both the categories presently stands at 279. The supplementary affidavit filed on 20.04.2011 discloses the following: - i) Out of the 281 Dropped Elementary Teachers identified for regularization / readjustment the break up is as follow: - a) Non-BTC area - 265. b) BTC area - 16. With the exclusion of the two teachers named hereinabove from the Kokrajhar dist rict the number of identified Dropped Elementary Teachers for the BTC area would be 16-2 = 14. ii) Out of the 14 teachers in the BTC area, 11 are from Kokrajhar District and 3 are from Chirang District. The Director of Education, BTC has submitted a list of 14 vacant sanctioned posts of Assistant Teachers of Lower Primary School unde r him for obtaining necessary SIU (Staff Inspection Unit) approval from the Fina nce Department of Assam. iii) Out of the 265 Dropped Teachers in the non-BTC area of Assam, the Directora te of Elementary Education, Assam, vide its letter dated 23.12.2010 has meanwhil e submitted necessary SIU proposal to the State Government in the Education (Ele mentary) Department for the approval of Finance Department for appointment/adjus tment against 230 vacant sanctioned posts located in various Provincialised Lowe r and Upper Primary Schools in different districts of Assam. iv) The break up of the remaining 35 posts in deficit (265-230) is - a) Lower Primary Schools i) Nagaon - 1. ii) Nalbari - 2 iii) Tinsukia - 14 b) Upper Primary Schools. i) Goalpara - 16 ii) Lakhimpur - 1. iii) Nagaon - 1. v) The Director of Elementary Education, Assam, on receipt of the required infor mation from Tinsukia district about the available sanctioned vacancies in the Lo wer Primary Schools thereat, has by his letter No. EAA(B). 127/06/Pt.-VII/51, da ted 08.02.2011 submitted necessary SIU proposal to the State Government in the E ducation (Elementary) Department for approval of the Finance (SIU) Department fo r appointment/adjustment of 14 Dropped Teachers of Provincialised Lower Primary Schools in that district. vi) A similar proposal for approval of the Finance (SIU) Department for appointm ent/ adjustment of 16 Dropped Teachers of Provincialised Upper Primary Schools i n Goalpara District has been submitted by the Director of Elementary Education, Assam, by his letter No.EAA (B).127/06/Pt.-VII/59, dated 09.02.2011. vii) As no sanctioned vacancies are available for appointment/adjustment of 5 Dr opped Elementary Teachers of Nalbari, Lakhimpur and Nagaon districts, (break up as above), the Director, Elementary Education, Assam vide his letter dated 09.02 .2011 has submitted the following proposal: - It is to be mentioned here that, the 5 nos. of deficit posts as mentioned above may be filled up from the posts already approved by the Finance (SIU) Departmen t vide their U/O letter No. FSI.235/2007 dated 21.06.2007 and extended the valid ity of approval of the post up to 31.03.2011 vide Finance (SIU) Department lette r No.FSI.5/2005/ VOL.V/32 dated 06.12.2010 as follows: District Name of School Original sanction No. with date Permanent Reten tion No. with date Nalbari 1 post of 1 No. Belsor LP School may be placed at Harijan Sishu Hndi LP School EPS-16/75/32 dated 29/11/75 EAA-91/90/82 dated 30/7/92 1 post Helacha LP School may be placed Harijan Sishu Hindi LP School EPS-16/75/32 dated 29/11/75 EAA-91/90/82 Dated 30/7/92 Nagaon Nehru ME School ESS-172/77/164 dated 17/10/77 EMD/Middle/5/84/A Dated 17/8/94 Dhubri 1 post of 2365 No. Sishu Kalyan LP School may be transferred to Nagaon District EPS-16/75/32 Dated 29/11/75 EAA-91/90/82 dated 30/7/92 1 post of Moterjhar Sr. Basic School may be transferred to Lakhimpur Dis t. EPS-16/75/32 dated 29/11/75 EAA-91/90/82 dated 30/7/92 viii) By his letter dated 09.02.2011, the above authority has also clarified tha t the posts referred to therein are clear vacant posts which are not utilised fo r adjustment/regularization of the service of OBB teachers and thus are availabl e for appointment/adjustment of the Dropped Teachers. On a combined reading of the averments made in the pleadings on record and, inte r alia, the letters dated 08.02.2011 and 09.02.2011, we are of the view that the permission sought for in the facts and circumstances of the case may be accorde d to the applicant State. Ordered accordingly. This, however, would be subject t o the extension of the validity of the approval of the posts referred to in the letter dated 09.02.2011 to be granted by the Finance (SIU) Department, Governmen t of Assam. The necessary legal formalities including extension of the validity of the approval by the Finance (SIU) Department should be completed with necessa ry expedition and by all means by 15.06.2011. At this juncture, Mr. Pathak, points out that in view of the time lag, the possi bility of some of the identified Dropped Elementary Teachers either joining othe r government service or attaining the age of superannuation or being dead cannot be ruled out and that the State Government thus should be left at liberty to as certain these aspects of the matter. Having regard to this submission, which we consider to be of considerable relevance and significance, the liberty as sought for is granted. We, however, make it clear that if in course of such an exercise, the State Gove rnment, in fact, identifies such teachers who would, for the reasons cited befor e us, are unavailable or have been rendered ineligible for regularization/adjust ment, this fact would be brought to the notice of this Court for further appropr iate orders as would be deemed necessary. The miscellaneous application is disposed in the above terms.