Paresh Ch. Saha v. State Of West Bengal & ORS

07.01.2021 tkm WPA 4820 of 2020 (Via Video Conference) Paresh Ch. Saha Vs State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Narayan Ch. Mondal Ms. Mousumi Chatterjee ..... for the petitioner Md. Yasin Ali Ms. Tapati Samanta ..... for the respondents The petitioner who is a retired library assistant of Kamalapur Sangha Town Library has expressed his grievance in the present writ petition to the effect that he was appointed as a library assistant on 30.11.1981 and was holding a certificate in librarianship at the relevant time. In course of his job as a library assistant, the petitioner achieved the degree of bachelor in Library and Information Science in the year 1986. According to the petitioner, the post of a library assistant in a town library is equivalent to that of a librarian of a rural area. The pay scale of both the posts is identical. The petitioner has alleged that despite his acquiring higher qualification during his job as a library assistant he was denied a higher scale of pay by the authority and his letter to the authority sent on 19.6.2019 remain unanswered. The opposite parties are represented and have denied the contentions of the petitioner. It is submitted

that as the petitioner is library assistant which is different from a librarian, he is not entitled to the higher scale of pay to which a librarian is entitled.

It is submitted that the petitioner wrote to the Director of Library Services, Government of West Bengal and the District Library Officer and the Secretary, Local Library Authority, North 24 Pgs. Haritala, Barasat on 19.6.2019 claiming higher scale of pay in view of the observation made by the Hon'ble Supreme Court as well as this court on that score. The said petition has not been considered/disposed of by the authority. The petitioner has retired from service on 31.5.2007.

In my considered opinion, the petition dated 19.6.2019 is pending before the authority for sufficiently long time and requires to be disposed of by the authority on merit in accordance with law.

Accordingly, the Director of Library Services, Govt. of West Bengal, Bikash Bhawan/respondent no. 3 should dispose of the application of the petitioner dated 19.6.2019 on merits in accordance with law after giving an opportunity of hearing to all the necessary parties within a period of two months from the date of communication of this order to the said opposite party and such decision taken by the opposite party be communicated to the petition within a week thereafter.

Copy of this order be accordingly communicated to the opposite party no. 3 by the petitioner.

With this observation WPA 4820 of 2020 is disposed of.

Since no affidavit is called for, averments made in the petition shall be deemed not to have been admitted. (Suvra Ghosh, J.)