09-09-2026 Item No.34 Subrata Bhattacharyya AR(C) IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side WPA No.9813 of 2026 Nabanita Giri -vs- State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Gaurav Das Mr. Debasis Dey …for the petitioner Mr. Arka Bhattacharya Mr. Bipul Kumar Mondal Mr. Nilanjan Pal Mr. Bikash Kumar Sriwastav …for the State 1. The petitioner is aggrieved by the rejection of her prayer for grant of higher scale of pay on the ground that he is not entitled to enjoy PG scale of pay in terms of para.3 of GO No.593-SE(B) dated November 27, 2007. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioner, in support of this case, relies on an order dated May 17, 2024 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in WPA No.25355 of 2023 (Raju Das v. State of West Bengal & Ors.). 3. It appears that the impugned decision not to allow the petitioner the higher scale of pay was taken by the Deputy Director of School Education (JH) on November 2, 2017 and that the same was communicated to the petitioner after service of a copy of the writ petition in the year 2026. 4. The petitioner has filed a supplementary affidavit to bring on record the order of rejection passed in the year 2017 and communicated in the year 2026. 5. The issue as to whether the aforesaid GO No.593 dated November 27, 2007 could be taken into consideration for deciding the payer of a candidate who took admission to the PG course prior to getting the job was decided by the Special Bench of this Court in the case of Uptal Kanti Karan v. State of West Bengal & Ors. reported in (2024) SCC OnLine Cal. 1274. 6. It appears that the decision to reject the prayer of the petitioner was taken long prior to the judgment delivered by the Special Bench in the matter of Uptal Kanti Karan (supra). The authority did not have the opportunity to decide the matter in the light of the law laid down in the matter of Utpal Kanti Karan (supra). 7. In view of the above, the impugned ground of rejection mentioned in the order dated November 2, 2017 cannot stand in the eye of law and the same is, accordingly, set aside. 8. The District Inspector of Schools (SE), Jhargram is directed to reconsider the petitioner’s prayer for grant of higher scale of pay strictly in line with the law laid down in the matter of Utpal Kanti Karan (supra). 9. An opportunity of hearing shall be provided to the petitioner prior to taking a decision in the matter. A decision shall be taken at the earliest but positively within a period of eight weeks from the date of communication of this order. 10. If any sum is found due and payable to the petitioner, the same shall be disbursed in her favour without any further delay. 11. The writ petition is disposed of. 2 12. All parties are to act on the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this court. 13. Certified server copy of this order, if applied for, shall be made available to the parties. [Amrita Sinha, J] 3