Page No.# 1/6 GAHC010078382025 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : WP(C)/2055/2025 SMT MAKHANI HAZARIKA VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 3 ORS. REPRESENTED BY THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM, SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, DISPUR, GUWAHATI-781006 2:THE DIRECTOR TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT KAHILIPARA GUWAHATI-781019 3:THE INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS LAKHIMPUR DISTRICT CIRCLE NORTH LAKHIMPUR DIST- LAKHIMPUR ASSAM PIN-787001 4:THE HEAD MASTER KATHALPARA HIGH SCHOOL P.O AND P.S DHENUKHANA DISTRICT- LAKHIMPUR ASSAM PIN-787053 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. M MAHANTA, MS. S MAHANTA Advocate for the Respondent : SC, SEC. EDU., Page No.# 2/6 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MICHAEL ZOTHANKHUMA ORDER 10.04.2025 1. Heard Mr. M. Mahanta, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. U. Sharma, learned counsel for the respondent nos.1, 2 & 3. 2. The respondent no.4 is the Headmaster of the Subansiri Kaiwarta High School, Bebejia, Lakhimpur. The petitioner has assailed the impugned action of the respondent authorities in not provincialising the service of the petitioner, on the ground that name of the petitioner does not appear in the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) of the Kathalpara High School in Lakhimpur District. 3. The petitioner’s case is that she had joined her service on 22.06.2005 and as per the provisions of the erstwhile Assam Venture Educational Institutions (Provincialisation of Services) Act, 2011, which had been set aside by this Court as unconstitutional, the services of the employees of the school have been provincialised w.e.f. 01.01.2013. Although the petitioner was eligible to be provincialised, she was arbitrarily left/dropped out from provincialisation of her service, on the ground of non-inclusion of her name in the UDISE and/or DISE data. After the coming into force the Assam Education (Provincialisation of Services of Teachers and Re-organization of Educational Institutions) Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the “2017 Act”), the District Scrutiny Committee after Page No.# 3/6 due verification of her eligibility, recommended the petitioner for provincialisation. He submits that though the 2017 Act does not prescribe any requirement for capturing the names of the teachers of the Venture High Schools in the DISE Code for provincialisation of their service, the respondent authorities are not acting upon the recommendation of the District Scrutiny Committee. 4. The petitioner’s counsel submits that the present case is a covered case, in terms of the decision of this Court, in the case of Kishor Kumar Nath & Others vs. State of Assam & Others, reported in 2023 SCC OnLine Gau 1487. He accordingly submits that the case of the petitioner should be verified by the respondent no.2 and take a decision, in terms of the judgment of this Court in Kishor Kumar Nath (supra). 5. Mr. U. Sharma, learned counsel for the respondent Secondary Education Department submits that he has got no objection to the prayer made by the petitioner’s counsel, in view of the fact that this is a covered case. 6. I have heard the learned counsels for the parties. 7. Paragraph 15, 16, 17, 18 & 19 in the case of Kishor Kumar Nath (supra) is reproduced hereinbelow, as follows : “15. Section 6 of the Act of 2017 deals with the educational and professional qualification of teachers whereas Section 7 of the Act of 2017 deals with the educational and professional qualification of tutors. Page No.# 4/6 16. Therefore, a conjoint reading of the provisions referred to hereinabove in respect to the Act of 2017 there is no requirement for the names of the teachers working in the "Venture High School" as well as "Venture Higher Secondary School" as defined in Section 2 (x) and 2 (y) of the Act of 2017 to have their names captured in the DISE Code as is otherwise required in the case of a teachers/tutors whose services are to be provincialised in respect of "Venture ME School" and "Venture Lower Primary School" as well as "Venture Upper Primary School" as defined in Sections 2 (za), 2 (zb) and 2 (zc) of the Act of 2017 wherein the names of such teachers or tutors are required to be captured in the DISE Code up to 2009-10. 17. In the backdrop of the above, let this Court take into consideration the case of the petitioners before this Court in the present batch of writ petitions. The learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the concerned respondent authorities have not processed the proposals for provincialisation of the services of the petitioners who are working in "Venture High Schools" and "Venture Higher Secondary Schools" on the ground that the petitioners' names are not captured in the DISE Code. It is also the case of the petitioners that the concerned authorities have issued communication not to process such proposals of provincialisation of services of teachers/tutors whose names have not been captured in the DISE Code. 18. This Court, on the basis of the above analysis of the provisions of the Act of 2017, is of the opinion that the insistence of the respondent authorities of the names of petitioners who have been rendering services in "Venture High School" and "Venture Higher Secondary School" to be captured in the DISE Code of 2009-10 is contrary to the Act of 2017 as it is not the mandate of the Act of 2017 to fulfill such requirement in respect to such teachers and/or tutors working in "Venture High School" and "Venture Higher Secondary School" to have their names captured in the DISE Code upto 2009-10. Such insistence is arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of the Act of 2017 and accordingly interfered with. 19. Taking into account the same, this Court therefore, disposes of the instant batch of writ petitions with a direction to the concerned Page No.# 5/6 respondent authorities, more particularly, the Director of Secondary Education Department to consider the case of the petitioner for provincialisation of their services as teachers and/or tutors by making necessary verification in terms with Section 4 of the Act of 2017 and without insisting upon their names being captured in the DISE Code of 2009- 10 or prior thereto. This exercise be completed within 6 (six) months from the date a certified copy of this judgment is served upon the Director of Secondary Education Department.” 8. A perusal of the above shows that the respondent authorities cannot insist upon the names of the petitioners, who have been rendering services in Venture High Schools and Venture Higher Secondary Schools, to be captured in the DISE Code of 2009 – 2010, which is contrary to the 2017 Act. As such, this Court had directed the Director of Secondary Education, to consider the case of the petitioners therein for provincialisation of their services as Teachers and/or Tutors, by making necessary verification in terms of Section 4 of the 2017 Act and without insisting upon their names being captured in the DISE Code of 2009 – 2010 or prior thereto. 9. Section 4 of 2017 Act states as follows : “4 Teachers and/or tutors to be government servants:- (1) Subject to fulfillment of all other provisions of this Act, the services of the teachers and/or tutors of all Venture Educational Institutions eligible under section 3 shall be deemed to have been provincialised on the date of publication of the provincialisation order by Notification in the Official Gazette and they shall become employees of the State Government with effect from such date. (2) The teachers and/or tutors to be provincialised under this Act,- (i) must have been working as a teacher in the concerned Venture Educational Institution that have been fully recognized up to the last and Page No.# 6/6 highest class required for such Institution by the competent authority on or before 01.01.2006; (ii) must have minimum educational and professional qualifications as laid down under different Acts, Rules and Regulations as mentioned under section 6 or any other relevant statutory provisions, as the case may be; (iii) must have rendered at least six years continuous service as on 1.1.2017 from the date of joining in the concerned Venture Educational Institution which must be on 31.12.2010 or prior to that date. (iv) in case of teachers and/or tutors of the Schools for special subject like Sanskrit, Arabic, Hindi, Craft Teacher, Music Teacher and other Classical Teachers, the number of students appeared in the concerned final examination like HSLC and HS (10 + 2) conducted by the SEBA or the ASHEC, as the case may be, shall not be less than 10 students in each class per year during last three years.” 10. On considering that the present case is a covered case and as the facts of this case is similar to the facts of the case in Kishor Kumar Nath (supra), this Court directs the Director of Secondary Education, to consider the case of the petitioner for provincialisation, after making necessary verification in terms of the provisions of 2017 Act. 11. The same should be done within a period of 6 (six) months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. 12. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant