Arun Kumar Mitra, J. - (1.) In this writ petition the following prayers were made : (a) A writ of and/or in the nature of mandamus directing the concerning respondents to treat the petitioner as duly qualified and eligible for the post of Headmaster of a Secondary School taking into consideration the academic records and experience of the petitioner as disclosed in the writ petition. (b) A writ of and/or in the nature of mandamus directing the concerned respondent to issue call letter to the petitioner for interview for the post of Headmaster of Pansuli High School, Post : Nutan Danga; District Burdwan upon treating the petitioner as eligible for the said post. (c) A writ of and/or in the nature of certiorari directing the respondent to certify and transmit the record and proceedings of this case for the post of Headmaster so that the order, if any, disqualifying the petitioner or rejecting his candidature for the post of Headmaster of Secondary School may be quashed and conscionable justice done to the parties. (d) A writ of and/or in the nature of prohibition directing the concerned respondent not to select and/or recommend any candidate for the post of Headmaster of the said School without considering the candidature of the said post. (e) (a) rule Nisi in terms of prayers (a) to (d) (f) Declaration that the rule, if any, prescribing 45% marks in Secondary/ Higher Secondary Examination for the post of Headmaster of a Secondary School is ultra vires, illegal, unaffirmed, unreasonable and void and, in any event has no manner of application to the case of the petitioner. The above are the main prayers in the writ petition. The petitioner served notice and copy of the writ petition upon (1) The learned Government Pleader; (2) The Secretary to the West Bengal Central School Service Commission. The petitioner also served the notice on the Secretary, Regional School Service Commission (Eastern Region) through Registered Post and filed the affidavit of service. The petitioner filed two supplementary affidavits. One affirmed on 7th March, 2003, the other affirmed on 4th April, 2003.
(2.) In the writ petition the petitioner alleged that he was appointed as Assistant Teacher of Pansuli High School; Post-Nutan Danga; District-Burdwan (hereinafter termed as 'said school') in the year 1980. His appointment was approved by the D.I. of Schools by Memo dated 11.08.1981. The petitioner annexed his certificates showing his educational qualification as Annexure P- 1 to the writ petition. The approval memo of the petitioner's service has been made Annexure P-2. According to the petitioner he was allowed Honours Scale of Pay and thereafter Post- graduate scale and the copies of sanction memo for these two scales have been made Annexure P-3 to the writ petition. The Headmaster of the School retired and the petitioner took charge of the School as Teacher-in-Charge on 31.01.2000. The petitioner has annexed the certificates of the Secretary in this regard as Annexure P-4.
(3.) Pursuant to an Advertisement issued by the Central School Service Commission in the year 2001 inviting Applications for the post of Headmaster of various Schools/Madrasahs, the petitioner applied for the post of Headmaster of Pansuli High School. The petitioner was not given any call. In the year 2002 the Central School Service Commission again published Advertisement and the petitioner again submitted an application on 16.08.2002, but according to the petitioner this time also he did not receive any call letter. According to the petitioner he made inquiry in the office of the Regional School Service Commission in Burdwan regarding the reason of the Commission in not issuing call letter in his favour but nothing developed. According to the petitioner he had got qualification required for the purpose that is teaching experience of ten years, but he has not been called. As such on the above prayer the petitioner moved the instant writ petition. On the said writ petition on 25.3.2003 this Court passed an order asking the learned Counsel for the School Service Commission to take instructions in the matter. On that date this Court also passed an interim order that the petitioner will be allowed to participate in the interview, the interview will be held including the petitioner, but the result of the interview will not be published for a period of fortnight from that date. Thereafter, the petitioner filed an application for amendment of the writ petition on 21.04.2003. The said amendment application has been made numbered as CAN 3410 of 2003. In the said amendment application in paragraph 2 the writ petitioner averred that it is his apprehension that the respondents have treated him not suitable for the post of Headmaster, as he did not pass Madhyamic and/or Higher Secondary Examination scoring 45% marks in the said examination. In paragraph 3 of the said application the petitioner averred that under the procedure for selection of person for appointment to the post of teachers of recognised School in West Bengal as originally laid down under Memo No. 14-S.E. (S) dated 08.01.1998 (as amended by Memo No. 196-S.E. (S) dated 20.03.1998). There was no provision requiring the candidates for the post of Headmaster to score 45% marks at Madhyamic and Higher Secondary level. Thereafter by Memo No. 270- S.E. (S) dated 23.02.2001. The Central School Service Commission has been sought to be empowered/authorised to prescribe additional/further criteria for "good academic records" required to be eligible for selection/appointment in the post of Headmaster. The petitioner in the said application also stated that he has been acting as teacher-in-charge in the said post with effect from 31.01.2000 from which date Mr. Susanta Chatterjee the earlier headmaster retired. The petitioner also stated that the process for filling up vacancy was initiated by the School authority on 04.05.2000 by requisitioning the School Service Commission (through the D.I. of Schools) for recommending the name of a suitable candidate for filling up the said vacancy. The petitioner further stated in paragraph 6 of the said application that as per the statutory recruitment procedure has been laid down by Memo No. 14-S.E. (S) dated 08.01.1998. Memo No. 277-S.E. (S) dated 02.03.2002 ultra vires the School Service Commission Act, 1997 and rule thereof. The vacancy in the post of Headmaster of said School having arisen on 31.01.2000 the said vacancy is required to be filled up by the pre-amended rules/procedures as existing on the date when the vacancy occurred and the amendment dated 23.02.2001 is not retrospective and has no manner of application in his case. Accordingly the petitioners prayer for introduction of another ground in the writ petition as ground LA after ground L and also prayed for introduction of paragraph 5 of the amendment application as paragraph 16A of the writ petition. The petitioner also sought for amendment of prayer 'F' of the writ petition by amending writ petition.;