Sandhya Ghosh Mallick vs State Of West Bengal

Rajasekhar Mantha, J

The writ petitioner was originally a teacher under a School managed and controlled by the Asansol Municipality. Sometime in the year 1998, all

Schools under the Municipality in the State came to be controlled directly by the District Primary School Council under the District concerned under

which the concerned Municipality fell.

 The transfer of teachers from the Municipality controlled Schools to the District Primary School Council controlled Schools was to take effect

voluntarily which the petitioner accepted.

 It was further stipulated in the Scheme for transfer that the Teachers who are willing to get transferred to come under the District Primary School

Council, would be receiving pay and emoluments in accordance with those available to other teachers similarly situated under the District Primary

School Council.

 Admittedly, during the time when the Schools were controlled under the Asansol Municipality, the latter did not have GPF or Gratuity or pensionary

benefits, the same was available to the petitioner for the first time after coming under the District Primary School Council with effect from

21.11.2003. Their scales of pay were however higher under the Asansol Municipality.

The writ petitioner would contend before this court that she retired from service on 31.05.2003, prior to coming into force of the pension regulations.

She claims that she is entitled to the same pay scale as she was getting under the Asansol Municipality.

She, therefore, submits that the pay scale at which the PPO has been issued to her is incorrect and less by Rs. 125/-. She further submits that her

service book has not been made available to her till date.

This court notices that since after voluntarily deciding to come under the purview and control of the District Primary School Council, the petitioner

cannot seek any benefit that she was receiving from the erstwhile Asansol Municipality.

The petitioner is entitled to only those benefits that are available to teachers who retired on the same date under the District Primary School Council,

Burdwan.

In such circumstances, the Circular dated 21.11.2003 which admittedly was issued after the superannuation of the petitioner, would definitely attract

the petitioner since the same has been made applicable to all teachers under the District Primary School Council who are similarly situated as that of

the petitioner.

Considering the above, this court is of the view that the petitioner is bound by all the Circulars applicable to all teachers similarly situated under the

District Primary School Council, Burdwan. The petitioner has not only accepted the same, but also has acted upon the said PPO and benefited

therefrom.

The petitioner is now getting pension and the benefits of GPF and the like which she was not otherwise entitled to if she remained under the Asansol

Municipality.

In any event, schools under the Municipality have ceased to exist since after 1998.

In such circumstances, no relief can be granted to the petitioner and the instant writ petition is dismissed. In view of the above, the related CAN

application being CAN 611 of 2020 is also disposed of.

There will be no order as to costs.

Urgent certified photostat copy of this order, if applied for, shall be given to the parties as expeditiously as possible on compliance of all necessary

formalities.