- (1.) By presenting this writ petition, the petitioner has impugned an order passed by the Registrar, National Institute of Technology Durgapur (hereafter the NIH) dated July 1, 2014. The order reads as follows: "Dear Madam, 1. Reference is made to NIT Durgapur letter No. NITD/ADMN/2104, dated 22.06.2006. 2. This is to inform you that your services are no longer required by the Institute from 5th August, 2014. 3. This may please be treated as a notice for the purpose stated above. 4. This issues with the approval of Competent Authority. Thanking you, Yours faithfully, Sd/- Illegible Registrar"
(2.) The case of the petitioner, as pleaded in the writ petition and the affidavit-in-reply, is that her husband Pralay Kumar Lahiri (since deceased) was serving the NIH as a professor in the M.E. Department; that while serving as such, he passed away on May 8, 2006 leaving behind him the petitioner (widow) and their twin children (a son and a daughter, aged about 15 years) as the surviving legal heirs; that faced with severe crisis, both mental and financial, the petitioner (a postgraduate in Modern History) had immediately thereafter applied for compassionate appointment on May 12, 2006; that considering the petitioner's financial condition as depicted in the said application, the Director of the NIH by his letter dated June 15/22, 2006 offered compassionate appointment to her on the post of 'Lower Division Assistant' on ad hoc basis on a consolidated pay of Rs. 6,460/- without quarters or Rs. 5700/- with quarters, to be governed by the same terms and conditions as are applicable for similar categories of staff of the NIH; that despite the appointment being temporary and terminable with one month's notice from either side, the petitioner accepted the offer and joined the NIH, whereupon she was posted as an assistant in the Central Library; that the petitioner continued to discharge her duty without any complaint and she was treated as a regular/permanent employee of the NIH; that since the library became the petitioner's workplace, she enhanced her qualification by acquiring B. Lib. degree for rendering better service to the NIH; that upon her husband's death, the petitioner had received Rs. 1,75,000/- on account of gratuity and Rs. 1,79,000/- on account of provident fund; that since the petitioner was allotted quarters meant for jamadars she refused to move on to stay thereat and continued to occupy the quarters allotted to her late husband for 3 1/2 years, wherefore 50% of Rs. 16,000/- receivable as family pension was deducted on account of penal rent aggregating to more than Rs. 3,50,000/-; that with immense difficulty, the petitioner brought up her children and, this Bench ought to record that to her credit, they have blossomed in life (her son is studying M. Tech., while her daughter has enrolled herself for Ph.D. course); that the petitioner having vacated her husband's quarters was residing in a rented accommodation and had booked a flat in Durgapur, for which Rs. 22,000/- has to be paid by her every month to clear her debt; that Rs. 52,000/- is being received as monthly pension which, it has not been disputed, would be slashed by 2/3rd from the beginning of 2015; that the petitioner's consolidated pay had not seen any significant rise over the years she had been in service of the NIH; and, that the impugned order of termination has hit her like a bolt from the blue.
(3.) It has, accordingly, been prayed that the impugned order be set aside and the petitioner be reinstated in service with full monetary benefits for the period she was unable to work.;