Amitava Lala, J. - (1.) It appears to this Court that for the purpose of selection in the post of the employees of the public libraries, certain conditions are available as per the memorandum dated 9th.February 1980 being Annexure P-8 to the writ petition. One such Clause is "F. At the time of appointment in sponsored libraries, preferences should be given to existing qualified staff of the sponsored/Government Public Libraries applied for the post, whether their names are registered with employment exchange or not."
(2.) The petitioner invoked the writ jurisdiction to this Court for the purpose of regularisation of his service. It was heard by a Bench of this Court in an earlier writ petition being C.R. No.967 (W) of 1998 and an order was passed in favour of the writ petitioner on 6.2.2001. By such order Justice Dipak Prakash Kundu was pleased to direct the authority concerned to consider the case of the petitioner for appointment to the post of cycle peon if the petitioner is found fit for appointment to such post. Before coming into conclusion, His Lordship was pleased to clarify the scope and ambit of Clause-F above which is given herein at page 53 of the writ petition: "The spirit of Clause-F is that all existing qualified staff of the sponsored Government, Public Libraries applied for the post should be considered for appointment. In the instant case the petitioner applied for the post of cycle peon and in my view the above-quoted Clause-F do not stand in the way of considering his case for the cycle peon".
(3.) It was further considered by His Lordship that one post is lying vacant and the petitioner made application for appointment in February 1991 when he was very much within the age limit. Therefore, respondents were directed to relax the age bar and consider the case of the petitioner. However, following such order, the Director of Library Services, West Bengal, give a hearing and passed a reasoned order. The operative portion of such departmental order is as follows: "Shri Mahadev Dey was asked to appear at the District Library Officer's office on 9.4.2001 to consider his fitness for appointment to the post. He was examined following the similar procedure as was adopted at the time of appointment of other candidates. Upon such examination on interview it has been found that he has failed to attain the similar yardstick to prove his fitness for appointment to the post of Cycle Peon. He is therefore not considered fit for appointment to the post of Cycle Peon".;