Debangsu Basak, J. - (1.) The petitioner has sought Honours Graduate pay scale from February 9, 1999 being the date of his joining in the post of Assistant Teacher and consequential reliefs with regard thereto.
(2.) Learned Advocate for the petitioner has submitted that, the petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Teacher with effect from February 9, 1999. The petitioner was selected through a selection process where the same examination was taken for an Honours and a Pass Graduate. As a Pass Graduate, the petitioner had taken the same examination as that of an Honours Graduate, since at that point of time the authorities did not differentiate between a Pass and an Honours Graduate for the purpose of examination or selection. He has referred to 2004 Volume 2 Calcutta Law Times page 610 (Partha Chatterjee v. State of West Bengal and others ) and has submitted that, the Government Order bearing No. 155(SE) dated July 13, 1999 has been declared as invalid. He has referred to 2015 Volume 1 Calcutta Law Journal page 24 (Smt. Nita Dey Chandra v. The State of West Bengal and others ) and has submitted that, the Division Bench in similar circumstances had allowed higher pay scale. He has relied upon an unreported decision dated July 15, 2015 passed in W.P. No. 13286(W) of 2014 (Selina Yeasmin v. The State of West Bengal and others ) and has submitted that in similar facts relying upon Smt. Nita Dey Chandra (supra) higher pay scale was granted.
(3.) Learned Advocate for the State has submitted that, the petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Teacher to a post after the evaluation by the State with regard to the requirement of the member and quality of teacher at the concerned school. The State makes a budget for appointment of teachers at different schools depending upon the requirement. The State takes into consideration the requirement of a Pass and an Honours Graduate teacher of the school. Once the school has earmarked a post of a teacher for a Pass category candidate such post cannot be converted to an Honours Graduate post by seeking higher pay scale. If such a migration is allowed to be taken the budgetary allocation of the State would go haywire.;