Wp(C) 2653/2008
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IN THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (THE HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) WP(C) No.2653/2008 Petitioner: Sri Ajoy Kumar Choudhury, Son of late Krishna Kanta Choudhury, Resident of Ward No. 8, Barpeta Road, PO – Barpeta Road, District- Barpeta, Assam. By Advocates: Mr. S. Sarma, Mr. G. Goswami, Ms. B. Devi, Mr. H. K. Das. Respondents : 1. State of Assam, Represented by the Commissioner & Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Urban Development Department, Assam Sachivalaya, Dispur, Guwahati-6. 2. Chairman, Barpeta Raod Municipal Board, Barpeta, Assam. 3. Director, Municipal Administration, Assam, Hengrabari, Guwahati-36. 4. Deputy Commissioner, Barpeta, P.O.-Barpeta, Dist-Barpeta. 5. Executive Officer, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Barpeta Road, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 6. Deputy Director, Audit (Local Fund) District Office Barpeta, Dist & P.O.-Barpeta, Assam. 7. Director of Audit, (Local Fund), Kar Bhawan Complex, 6th Floor, Ganeshguri, Guwahati-6. 8. Sri Bidyananda Choudhury, Chairman, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Barpeta, Assam. WP(C) No.2653/2008 Page 1 of 13 WP(C) No.1970/2011 WP(C) No.5477/2011 WP(C) No. 2868/2013 By Advocates: Mr. J. Handique, GA, Assam, Mr. P. Pathak, Sr. Advocate, Ms. P. Barman. WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 1970/2011 Petitioners: 1. Sri Dilip Kumar Saha, Ward Commissioner, Ward No. 4, Barpeta Road Municipal Board. 2. Smt. Parul Mandal, Ward Commissioner, Ward No. 10, Barpeta Road Municipal Board. 3. Sri Pranjit Nath, Ward Commissioner, Ward No. 3, Barpeta Road Municipal Board. By Advocates: Mr. R. P. Sharma, Sr. Advocate, Ms. R. Devi, Mr. A. R. Tahbildar, Mr. S. Chanda. Respondents : 1. State of Assam, Represented by the Commissioner & Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Urban Development Department, Assam Sachivalaya, Dispur, Guwahati-6. 2. Director, Municipal Administration Department, Dispur, Guwahati-6. 3. Deputy Commissioner, Dist-Barpeta, Assam, PIN-781315. 4. Barpeta Road Municipal Board, represented by the Chairman, Dist-Barpeta, Assam, PIN-781315. 5. Sri Ajoy Kumar Choudhury, Upper Division Assistant, WP(C) No.2653/2008 Page 2 of 13 WP(C) No.1970/2011 WP(C) No.5477/2011 WP(C) No. 2868/2013 Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Barpeta, PIN-781315. 6. Sri Bidyananda Choudhury, Presently acting as Chairman, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Barpeta, Assam, PIN-781315. By Advocates: Mr. J. Handique, GA, Assam, Mr. S. Sarma, Ms. B. Devi, Mr. G. Goswami, Mr. H. K. Das. WRIT PETITION (C) NO.5477/2011 Petitioner: Sri Ajoy Kumar Choudhury, Son of Late Krishna Kanta Choudhury, Barpeta Road, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. By Advocates: Mr. G. Goswami, Mrs. B Devi, Mr. H. K. Das. Respondents : 1. State of Assam, Represented by the Commissioner & Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Urban Development Department, Assam Sachivalaya, Dispur, Guwahati-6. 2. Director of Municipal Administration, Assam, Dispur, Guwahati-6. 3. Barpeta Road Municipal Board, represented by its Vice-Chairman. 4. Deputy Commissioner, Barpeta, P.O. & Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 5. Sub-Divisional Officer (Sadar), Barpeta, Dist & P.O.-Barpeta, Assam. 6. Sri Pranjit Nath, Commissioner Ward No. 3, WP(C) No.2653/2008 Page 3 of 13 WP(C) No.1970/2011 WP(C) No.5477/2011 WP(C) No. 2868/2013 Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 7. Sri Dilip Kr Saha, Commissioner Ward No. 4, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 8. Sri Parul Mandal, Commissioner Ward No. 10, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 9. Smt. Ranjumani Das, Commissioner Ward No. 2, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 10. Sri Basudev Maheswari, Commissioner Ward No. 5, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 11. Sri Harish Ch Barman, Commissioner Ward No. 8, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 12. Smt. Kshama Goswami, Commissioner Ward No. 1, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 13. Sri Dulal Sutradhar, Commissioner Ward No. 9, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 14. Sri Ranjit Kr. Das, MLA 40 No. Sarbhog Legislative Constituency. 15. Sri Dhanjit Das, Upper Divisional Assistant, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 16. Sri Gunajoy Choudhury, Head Assistant, Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. By Advocates: Mr. J. Handique, GA, Assam, Mr. R. P. Sharma, Sr. Advocate, Mr. R. Devi, Mr. A. R. Tahbildar, Mr. P. Pathak, Sr. Advocate, Mrs. P. Barman. WP(C) No.2653/2008 Page 4 of 13 WP(C) No.1970/2011 WP(C) No.5477/2011 WP(C) No. 2868/2013 WRIT PETITION (C) NO.2868/2013 Petitioner: Barpeta Road Municipal Board, Barpeta, represented by its Chairman, Sri Dilip Kumar Saha. By Advocates: Mr. R. P. Sharma, Sr. Advocate, Ms. R. Devi. Respondents : 1. State of Assam, Represented by the Commissioner & Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Urban Development Department, Dispur, Guwahati-6. 2. Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department, Dispur, Guwahati-6. 3. Commissioner, Lower Assam Division, Guwahati-1. 4. Deputy Commissioner, Barpeta. 5. Sri Gunajoy Choudhury, S/o Late Krishna Kanta Choudhury, Vill-Chandanpur, Barpeta Road, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. 6. Sri Ajoy Kr. Choudhury, S/o Late Krishna Kanta Choudhury, Barpeta Road, Dist-Barpeta, Assam. By Advocates: Mr. B. J. Ghosh, GA, Assam, Mr. P. Pathak, Sr. Advocate, Mrs. P. Barman, Mr. N. Dutta, Sr. Advocate, Mr. P. Mahanta. B E F O R E HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE UJJAL BHUYAN Date of hearing : 14.08.2013. Date of Judgment : 19.08.2013. WP(C) No.2653/2008 Page 5 of 13 WP(C) No.1970/2011 WP(C) No.5477/2011 WP(C) No. 2868/2013 J U D G M E N T AND O R D E R (ORAL) All the above writ petitions and Misc. applications being somewhat inter-related, those were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment and order. 2. For the sake of convenience, the cases are taken up in seriatim. WP(C) No.2653/2008 3. In this writ petition, petitioner Sri Ajay Kumar Choudhury has challenged order dated 08.04.2008 of the Chariman, Barpeta Road Municipal Board (Board). The said decision was taken on the basis of a resolution adopted by the Board on 13.03.2008. As per the said order, petitioner was restrained from drawing salary. Allegation against the petitioner was that he had misappropriated certain fund of the Board while serving as Accountant of the Board. Accordingly, he was removed from the post of Accountant and posted as UDA. 4. In view of certain facts placed on record by the petitioner by way of additional affidavit dated 21.01.2013, including the certificate of the Chairman of the Board dated 23.05.2011 which shows that certain amounts were recovered from the petitioner and that he has been allowed to work as the In-charge-Head Assistant of the Board w.e.f. 01.03.2003, and because of subsequent developments as would be noticed in the course of the judgment, the issue raised in this writ petition may not require adjudication of the Court. WP(C) No.2653/2008 Page 6 of 13 WP(C) No.1970/2011 WP(C) No.5477/2011 WP(C) No. 2868/2013 5. This position is fairly admitted by learned counsel for the parties. 6. In view of above, WP(C) No. 2653/2008 is dismissed as infructuous. WP(C) No.1970/2011 7. This writ petition has been filed by three petitioners, who are Ward Commissioners of the Board. They have challenged resolution of the Board dated 19.02.2011 appointing respondent No. 5 (Sri Ajay Kumar Choudhury) as Head Assistant of the Board. As per the said resolution, promotion of one Sri Dhanjit Das, UDA as Head Assistant was set aside and Sri Ajay Kumar Choudhury was promoted to the post of Head Assistant. This order has not been challenged by Sri Dhanjit Das but by the petitioners, who are Ward Commissioners of the Board. However, the said issue need not be gone into, as the Court is of the opinion that in view of the subsequent developments as would be noticed in the course of the judgment, the challenge made in the writ petition no longer survives. 8. Learned counsel for the parties fairly agree to the above position. 9. Accordingly, WP(C) No. 1970/2011 is dismissed as infructuous. WP(C) No.2653/2008 Page 7 of 13 WP(C) No.1970/2011 WP(C) No.5477/2011 WP(C) No. 2868/2013 WP(C) No. 5477/2011 10. In this writ petition, the petitioner Sri Ajay Kumar Choudhury has challenged two orders dated 01.10.2011 and 25.10.2011 passed by the Chairman of the Board. While the order dated 01.10.2011 has not been placed on record, a perusal of the order dated 25.10.2011 (translation does not appear to be correct) would show that petitioner was asked to hand over all the documents and charge of the Office of Head Assistant to one Sri Dhanjit Das (respondent No. 15). It further discloses the displeasure of the Board in the conduct of Sri Ajay Kumar Choudhury in not handing over charge to Sri Dhanjit Das. 11. This Court by order dated 01.11.2011 passed an interim order directing that the petitioner Sri Ajay Kumar Choudhury should be allowed to continue to function as Head Assistant in the Office of the Board without any hindrance. 12. Petitioner has not enclosed the order of the Board whereby he was appointed as Head Assistant. However, from the additional affidavit filed by him in WP(C) No. 2653/2008, it is seen that he was allowed to hold temporary charge of the Office of Head Assistant. 13. Sri Gunajoy Choudhury, who subsequently got himself impleaded as respondent No.