Approved By Education Board: Calcutta HC Grants Pensionary Benefits To Retired NTPC High School Teacher

The Calcutta High Court while granting pensionary benefits to NTPC High School teacher observed that while it is not a Government aided institution, the same has been approved by the Education Board of the State.

The Court was considering a Writ Petition against the District Inspector of Schools while processing the pension case of the Petitioner.

The single-bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya observed, ".......it has already been decided by the Hon’ble Division Bench in Md. Mofiur Rahman (supra) that there is no impediment in granting benefits under ROPA Rules reckoning past service of another teacher who was working in NTPC High School, this court does not find any difficulty in recognizing service of the petitioner rendered in NTPC High School for the period from 7th April, 1993 to 4th July, 2002 for the purpose of settling pensionary dues of the petitioner."

The Petitioner was represented by Advocate Ekramul Bari while the Respondent was represented by Advocate Amitava Mitra.

The Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that the Petitioner retired on superannuation on 31st January, 2024 and thereafter while processing the pension case of the Petitioner, Respondent No.3 made observations raising questions relating to tenure of the Petitioner as an Assistant Teacher in first school, that is, NTPC High School, Malda for the purpose of computing and settling retiral benefits. Observations were made that NTPC High School was financed by National Thermal Power Corporation Limited and not by the Government of West Bengal, therefore, service of the Petitioner in the said school to be treated as unqualified and not to be reckoned for computing pensionary benefits.

He cited approval memo issued by the Secretary, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education thereby approving service of the petitioner being an Assistant Teacher along with other teaching and nonteaching staffs of NTPC High School and submitted that such approval accorded by the Board needs to be taken into consideration while taking decision on entitlement of the petitioner to receive retiral benefits from 7th April, 1993 being the first date of service of the petitioner in the said school. Reliance was also placed on order of the Division Bench on an intra-court appeal in Md. Mofiur Rahman v. State of West Bengal & Ors.

The Court noted that it appears that though NTPC High School was not Government aided institution but it was a recognized institution and the service of the petitioner for the period from 7th April, 1993 to 4th July, 2002 was approved by the concerned authority of the Board.

It was of the view that the Petitioner is entitled to such pensionery benefits considering approval from State Education Board.

The Petition was accordingly allowed.

Cause Title: Milan Mukhopadhyay @ Mukherjee vs. The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Appearances:

Petitioner- Advocate Ekramul Bari, Advocate Imtiaj Uddin, Advocate

Respondent- Advocate Amitava Mitra, Advocate Debangana Dey Nayak, Senior Advocate Soumya Majumder, Advocate Uttam Kumar Mandal, Advocate Maitree Roy

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