IN THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (High Court of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh) Misc. Case No. 1273/2014 In WP(C) No. 2788/2013 Sri Hari Chandra Das, S/o Late Ganesh Das, Assistant Teacher, Bholabari Bagicha L.P. School. P.O.- Bholabari, P.S.- Kalaigaon, District: Udalguri, Assam, Pin: 784509. Petitioner - Versus – 1) The State of Assam. Represented by the Commissioner & Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Education Department, Dispur, Guwahati- 781006. 2) The Director of Elementary Education, Kahilipara, Guwahati- 781019. 3) The District Elementary Education Officer-cum-Deputy Inspector of Schools, Udalguri, P.O. & P.S.- Udalguri, BTAD, Assam. 4) The Block Elementary Education Officer, Khairabari Block, District- Udalguri, BTAD, Assam 5) The President, Managing Committee/ School Management Committee, Bholabari Bagicha L.P. School, P.O. Bholabari, P.S.- Kalaigaon, District: Udalguri, Assam, Pin: 784509. 6) The Secretary, Managing Committee, Bholabari Bagicha L.P. School, P.O. Bholabari, P.S.- Kalaigaon, District: Udalguri, Assam, Pin: 784509. MC No. 1273/14 Page 1 of 7 7) The Bodoland Territorial Council, Represented by the Principal-Secretary, Kokrajhar, P.O. & P.S.- Kokrajhar, District: Kokrajhar, Assam. 8) The Director of Education, Bodoland Territorial Council, Kokrajhar, P.O. & P.S.- Kokrajhar, District- Kokrajhar, Assam. 9) Shri Surendra Das, S/o Late Upendra Das, R/o Village- Bholabari Bagicha, P.O.- Bholabari, P.S. Kalaigaon, District: Udalguri, Assam, Pin: 784509. Respondents B E F O R E HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE T. VAIPHEI For the petitioner: Mr. SB Choudhury, Advocate. For the respondents: Mr. RS Chouhan, Mr. SMT Chistie, SC, Education Date of Hearing: 06.08.2014 Date of Judgment: 22-08-2014 JUDGMENT & ORDER The question to be determined in this miscellaneous application is whether the interim order dated 23-5-2013 passed by this Court in the connected writ petition is liable to be vacated or not? 2. The applicant is the respondent No. 9 in the connected writ petition filed by the opposite party/writ MC No. 1273/14 Page 2 of 7 petitioner (“petitioner” for short) herein. In the writ petition, the petitioner states that the school under the name of Bholabari Bagicha L.P. School was established in the year 1985 with two teachers i.e. one Headmaster and one Assistant Teacher. The petitioner was appointed as Assistant Teacher by the Managing Committee of the school on 23-5-1985 and claims to be the founder teacher. He has since 1985 been regularly and continuously teaching the students of Bholabari Bagicha L.P. School as the Assistant Teacher. According to the petitioner, the Headmaster of the School, who is also the Secretary of the Managing Committee (respondent 6), keeps the attendance register and other documents of the school under his control and keeps them in his house instead of the school: the teacher is allowed to sign the attendance register as and when he likes. The petitioner was paid `4,000/- per month, and had received `48,000/- in the year 2009 and another `48,000/- in the year 2011 as Financial Assistance from the Government. 3. It is the further case of the petitioner that the respondent No. 6, with a view to deprive the petitioner of the financial assistance for the year 2011-12, which was already released by the Government of Assam, showed him absent from school despite the repeated requests made by him to allow him sign the attendance register as he has been regularly attending the school. This has been done by him with the intention of giving the financial assistance to MC No. 1273/14 Page 3 of 7 the respondent No. 9; the latter has illegally received the financial assistance. The complaints made by him to this effect to various authorities including the District Elementary Education Officer, Udalguri, did not yield any result. On the contrary, the respondent No. 6 issued the letter dated 20-9-2012 terminating the service of the petitioner. It is the case of the petitioner that in the DISE Code allotted to the school also, his name was initially shown as the Assistant Teacher, but was subsequently struck off and substituted by the name of the respondent No. 9, who was appointed as the additional Assistant Teacher only on 10-4-1996. Aggrieved by this, the connected writ petition was filed by him for directing the respondent authorities to regularize the service of the petitioner as Assistant Teacher of the school upon provincialization of the school as he is the only Assistant Teacher in the School and has been rendering service in that capacity since 1985 without any break in service. 4. This Court by the order dated 23-5-2013 passed the interim order directing that no provincilzation benefits should be released to the respondent No. 9 until the next returnable date. Seeking vacation of the said interim order, the respondent No. 9 points out that although the petitioner was appointed as the 1st Assistant Teacher of the School on 23-5-1985, he had never attended his classes regularly: in fact, he had hardly attended his classes from 2005 to 2008. He was rather working as the agent for GTF MC No. 1273/14 Page 4 of 7 (Golden Trust of Finance) for all these years. The notices sent to the petitioner by the Managing Committee of the School from time to time for attending his classes were not even responded to by him. 5. According to the respondent No. 9, he was initially appointed as the 2nd Assistant Teacher of the School on 10- 4-1996 by the Managing Committee of the School, but when the petitioner was regularly absent from classes, he came to be upgraded to the post of 1st Assistant Teacher in his place vide the appointment letter dated 16-2-2006 issued by the President of the School Managing Committee; he has since then been regularly rendering service to the school till now without any break. In all the records maintained by the school including the DISE Code, his name is recorded as the 1st Assistant Teacher of the school. It is the case of the respondent No. 9 that in the year 2009, the petitioner, all of a sudden, appeared out of nowhere and forcibly tried to attend the classes in order to receive the financial assistance meant for the 1st Assistant Teacher. He even went to the extent of threatening the school authorities that if he was not allowed to resume his duties, he would poison the food stuff of the children/pupil, for which an FIR was lodged with the Officer-in-Charge of Kalaigaon Police Station on 31-9-2012. A public petition to that effect was also submitted before the District Elementary Education, Udalguri (BTAD), Assam, which is still pending. It is the contention of the respondent No. 9 MC No. 1273/14 Page 5 of 7 that the petitioner, by suppressing of the above facts and by playing fraud upon this Court, and has even, ipso facto, managed to obtain the interim order, which is, therefore, liable to be vacated. 6. On a comparative reading of the pleadings of the parties and the documents annexed to their respective pleadings, it is quite apparent at this stage that the writ petitioner from service in terms of the resolution dated 16- 2-2009 passed by the Managing Committee of the school and that ever since 28-2005, the Managing Committee had been noting the regular absence of the writ petitioner from the school vide the resolutions dated 28-5-2005, 12-8-2005 and 12-7-2007. Resolution No. 1 dated 15-9-2012 of the Managing Committee of the School also noted the threat made by the writ petitioner over mobile even after his removal from service and of his attempt to forcibly enter the school premises to resume teachings in the school thereby disturbing the school atmosphere, etc., for which an ejahar was immediately lodged with Kalaigaon PS. On the other hand, vide Annexure-D series, it can be seen that the name of the applicant is recorded in the DISE Code for the year 2009-2010. However, there is nothing on record to show at this stage that the writ petitioner was ever reinstated to the post of 1st Assistant Teacher after his removal from service on 12-6-2009. As the writ petitioner, in the face of denial by the respondents and the applicant, the burden of proof is upon him to establish that he was reinstated to his post MC No. 1273/14 Page 6 of 7 after 12-6-2009. Stay order is granted to a party on his showing sufficient materials for making out a prima facie case in the first place. Apart from making bare statement that he is the 1st Assistant Teacher of the school without any materials to substantiate his claim, the question of granting interim order to him does not arise. This Court had earlier issued the interim order in question when it had not been acquainted with the version of the applicant. In this view of the matter, the interim order has no reason for its continuance and, is, therefore, liable to be vacated. 7. For the reasons stated in the foregoing, this miscellaneous application is allowed. The interim order dated 23-5-2013 passed by this Court in the connected writ petition is hereby recalled. Nothing stated in the foregoing shall, however, be construed as final observations on the merit of the writ petition, which is yet to be fully heard. The provincialization of the service of the Applicant as 1st Assistant Teacher Bholabari shall, however, be made subject to the outcome of the connected writ petition.