30-09-2026 Item No.25 Subrata Bhattacharyya AR(C) IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side WPA No.13325 of 2026 Swapan Pramanik -vs- The State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Biswarup Biswas Mr. Kamal Mishra Mr. Pratap Sanfui …for the petitioner Mr. Sahasrangshu Bhattacharjee, AGP Mr. Anindya Basu …for the State 1. The order of the District Inspector of Schools (SE), South 24 Parganas dated April 7, 2025 rejecting the prayer of the petitioner for grant of higher scale of pay on enhancing his education qualification in the subject Physical Education on the ground that the staff pattern of the school does not permit to accommodate the petitioner with master degree qualification has prompted the petitioner to approach this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution. 2. It has been submitted that the Hon’ble Division Bench in an appeal being MAT No.940 of 2007 in the case of State of West Bengal v. Sauvik Ghosh passed a judgment on April 8, 2008 clearly holding that the qualification pay could not be linked with the staff pattern. 3. It has also been submitted that the petitioner would be entitled to receive the higher scale of pay in line with the judgment passed by the Division Bench in the case of Prasanta Kanti Bose v. State of West Bengal reported in 2026 (2) CHN (Cal) 164 wherein the Court specifically held that the issue as regards entitlement of post- graduate scale of pay to teachers in Physical Education and Work Education group has been considered in the judgment delivered in the case of Baishali Banerjee v. State of West Bengal & Ors. reported in 2008 (2) CLH (Cal) 472. 4. The Court specifically held that in Physical Education, there is no distinction between pass and honours category and, as such, Physical Education teacher would be entitled to post graduate scale of pay notwithstanding the fact that post-graduate degree in Physical Education was not necessary for appointment as Assistant Teacher in Physical Education. 5. Prayer has been made to direct the respondents to grant higher scale of pay to the petitioner upon setting aside the impugned order of rejection. 6. Learned Additional Government Pleader concedes that the issue of grant of post-graduate scale of pay to Physical Education teachers has already been decided by several Division Benches of this Court. 7. The Special Bench decision in the matter of Utpal Kanti Karan v. State of West Bengal & Ors. reported in 2024 SCC OnLine Cal 1274 has also decided the issue. 8. It appears from records that the petitioner obtained master degree qualification in the year 2002 and certificate was issued in January 2003 and he was appointed on February 17, 2004. 9. It appears that the issue as to whether the Physical Education teachers would be entitled to receive the higher scale of pay or not has already 2 been decided by the Court in the decisions mentioned hereinabove. The order passed by the Hon’ble Division Bench in the matter of Prasanta Kanti Bose (supra) and the order passed in the matter of Utpal Kanti Karan (supra) clinches the issue. There is no reason to take a different view in the matter. 10. In view of the above, the impugned order of rejection dated April 7, 2025 stands set aside. 11. The District Inspector of Schools (SE), South Parganas is directed to re-calculate the salary of the petitioner after providing the higher scale of pay taking into consideration his master degree qualification in Physical Education on and from his date of joining. 12. Steps shall be taken by the DI of Schools in this regard at the earliest but positively within a period of eight weeks from the date of communication of this order. 13. All arrear payment shall be disbursed in favour of the petitioner at the earliest but positively within a period of eight weeks from the date of calculation in terms of the order passed hereinabove. 14. The writ petition is disposed of. 15. All parties are to act on the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court. 16. Certified server copy of this order, if applied for, shall be made available to the parties. [Amrita Sinha, J] 3 4