17.09.2026 Item no.427 Ct. No.237 Suman WPA 7038 of 2018 With CAN 1 of 2021 With CAN 3 of 2025 Dr. Badal Kumar Maity Vs. The State of West Bengal and Ors. Mr. Pratik Majumder Mr. Dilip Kumar Maiti Ms. Maitryee Maiti …for the petitioner Mr. Vivekananda Bose Mr. Ratikanta Pal ..for the College/Governing Body of the College Mr. Raj Mohan Chattoraj Mr. Mehboob Rahaman Ms. Shilpa Das ..for respondent nos. 13 &14 Mr. Arijit Bakshi Mr. Nilanjan Bhattacharya ..for the State Mr. Nilotpal Chatterjee Mr. Sourabh Sengupta ..for Calcutta University Mr. Anil Kumar Gupta …for UGC Respondent no. 14 has been working as a Graduate Laboratory Instructor at Bagnan College, Howrah. Respondent no. 13 was also appointed as a Graduate Laboratory Instructor at the said college. He, however, was dismissed from service on January 28, 2026, during the pendency of the present writ petition. Respondent no. 14 is also presently under suspension, and it has been submitted before this Court that a disciplinary proceeding has been initiated against him. Respondent nos. 13 and 14 had filed a writ petition being WPA 23889 (W) of 2017 before this Court, seeking the benefit of the Circular dated May 15, 2015, issued by the Higher Education Department. By the said Circular, the Higher Education Department granted certain financial benefits to Graduate Laboratory Instructors (GLIs) of Government colleges. The said writ petition was disposed of by a Coordinate Bench of this Court by an order dated November 24, 2017, directing the Director of Public Instruction, Government of West Bengal, to consider the grievance of the writ petitioners. In compliance with the said order, the Director of Public Instruction, Government of West Bengal, by an order dated May 15, 2018, passed the following order: “Considering all the above points it is therefore, decided that the petitioners are eligible for balance 50% arrear at one go at an early date. The Principal of the college is hereby directed to raise appropriate bills within seven days before the Joint Director of Public Instruction (PPS). The Joint Director of Public Instruction (PPS) is hereby directed to release the balance 50% arrear as early as possible on receiving the bill from the college, if not already received. It is made clear that delay in submission of bills by the Principal will entail interest @ 2% per annum on the arrear amount 2 for which the Principal shall be responsible to pay to the petitioners. Delay in raising bill will also be considered as dereliction of duties and in the event of such happening the Governing Body/Administrator is hereby advised to initiate appropriate disciplinary proceeding against the Principal. It is also noted that a considerable delay has already been made by the Principal in raising bill in this regard and the petitioners are free to recover pecuniary loss from the Principal, if they so desire. The Case is accordingly disposed of.” The petitioner, who is the Principal of the said college, challenges the aforesaid order dated May 15, 2018. It is submitted that respondent nos. 13 and 14 had obtained the benefit of career advancement under the Scheme by practising fraud. It is further submitted that the petitioner could not have been made personally liable to pay any amount to respondent nos. 13 and 14, as directed by the Director of Public Instruction, Government of West Bengal. I find no justification for entertaining the present writ petition at the instance of the petitioner insofar as his challenge pertains to the grant of financial benefits to respondent nos. 13 and 14. Even assuming that the Director of Public Instruction, Government of West Bengal, had passed an erroneous order in granting the aforesaid financial benefits in favour of respondent nos. 13 and 14, the petitioner has no reason to be personally aggrieved by such order. As the Principal of the college, the petitioner 3 was bound to comply with the order passed by the Director of Public Instruction, Government of West Bengal. I, however, find no justification for the direction contained in the order dated May 15, 2018 requiring the petitioner to pay interest at the rate of 2% per annum on the arrear amount from his personal funds in the event of delay in submission of the bills. The Director of Public Instruction, Government of West Bengal, could not have anticipated that there would be a delay in the submission of the bills and, on that basis, imposed personal liability upon the petitioner to pay interest at the rate of 2% per annum. For the same reason, there could not have been any direction upon the Governing Body to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the petitioner. In my view, no such direction could have been issued in anticipation of a future default. Accordingly, I set aside that part of the order dated May 15, 2018, passed by the Director of Public Instruction, Government of West Bengal, insofar as it directs that the petitioner shall be liable to pay interest at the rate of 2% per annum on the arrear amount and he shall be subjected to disciplinary proceedings by the Governing Body of the College in the event of delay in submission of the bills. 4 With the aforesaid observations, WPA 7038 of 2018 along with CAN 1 of 2021 and CAN 3 of 2025 is disposed of. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the learned advocates for the parties on usual undertakings. (Kausik Chanda, J.) 5