Gauhati HC Dismisses Library Assistant's Challenge to Rival's Provincialisation at Janapriya College

Gauhati High Court upholds provincialisation of a Junior Assistant as Library Assistant, rejecting a rival employee's claim that his own service was manipulated and his degree was valid.

Justice Robin Phukan of the Gauhati High Court, sitting singly, dismissed a writ petition filed by Rezzaqul Hussain, a Library Assistant at Janapriya College, Baniarapara, Barpeta, who had challenged the provincialisation of his colleague Babul Hossain as Library Assistant under the Assam Education (Provincialisation of Services of Non-Teaching Staff of Venture Educational Institutions) Act, 2018. The court also allowed a linked interlocutory application filed by Babul Hossain, vacating an interim stay that had been operating against his provincialisation since October 2023. The judgment, pronounced on 25 May 2026, turned on two findings: that Rezzaqul Hussain's BLISC degree from Vinayaka Missions University, Tamil Nadu, obtained through off-campus distance education, was not a valid qualification; and that the allegation of record manipulation by the college was a disputed question of fact that could not be resolved on the material placed before the court.

The Dispute at Janapriya College

Rezzaqul Hussain was appointed as Library Assistant at Janapriya College on 16 March 2006. He contends that he continued in that post without resignation, though the college also assigned him additional duties — at different times as Tutor in Philosophy, as Librarian, and as Assistant Librarian. On 29 March 2010, the college appointed him as Assistant Librarian. His case is that the then Principal manipulated the records to show him as Assistant Librarian rather than Library Assistant, and that this manipulation was the reason his service was not provincialized.

Babul Hossain, the seventh respondent, was appointed as Junior Assistant on 9 December 2006. The Government, by order dated 5 February 2021, provincialized the services of eleven non-teaching staff of Janapriya College with effect from 1 January 2021. Babul Hossain's service was provincialized as Library Assistant, on the basis that the posts of Library Assistant and Junior Assistant are of the same rank and that he was senior in service. Rezzaqul Hussain's service was not provincialized because the District Level Committee had recommended him for the post of Assistant Librarian, and his BLISC degree — the qualification required for that post — was obtained from Vinayaka Missions University in off-campus distance education mode, which the Higher Education Department did not accept.

Rezzaqul Hussain first challenged the provincialisation order in WP(C) No. 5307/2021. That petition was disposed of on 3 January 2023 with a direction to file an appeal before the Commissioner and Secretary, Higher Education Department. The speaking order dated 28 August 2023 rejected that appeal. He then filed the present petition, WP(C) No. 5544/2023, challenging both the speaking order and the original provincialisation of Babul Hossain. An interim stay of Babul Hossain's provincialisation was granted on 11 October 2023. Babul Hossain responded by filing I.A. No. 85/2024 seeking vacation of that stay. Both matters were heard together and disposed of by the common judgment.

The Three Issues Framed

Justice Phukan framed three issues for determination. First, whether the speaking order dated 28 August 2023 was illegal or arbitrary. Second, whether the appointment of Rezzaqul Hussain as Assistant Librarian and the forwarding of his name for provincialisation in that capacity was illegal, given his contention that he never resigned from the post of Library Assistant and that records were manipulated. Third, whether the provincialisation of Babul Hossain as Library Assistant was illegal because he lacked the requisite qualification for that post.

The BLISC Degree and UGC Approval

The central qualification issue concerned the BLISC degree that Rezzaqul Hussain obtained from Vinayaka Missions University, Tamil Nadu, in 2013, through off-campus distance education. The Higher Education Department had declined to treat this as a valid qualification by reference to Government O.M. No. AHE.429/2011/196 dated 1 February 2012, which the court found on perusal of the departmental file produced before it.

The court drew on the reasoning in Purnendu Sekhar Debnath v. The State of Assam and Ors. (WP(C) No. 2983/2017 and connected matters), a co-ordinate bench decision, which had held that UGC regulations do not permit a deemed university to have a study centre outside its campus, even within the same State, and that degrees obtained without UGC or Distance Education Bureau approval are non-est in law. Although the finding of the learned Single Judge in that case was interfered with in a writ appeal, the court noted that the proposition of law on UGC approval requirements was left untouched by the appellate bench.

Applying that proposition, Justice Phukan held that Rezzaqul Hussain had failed to demonstrate from the record that the Vinayaka Missions University had the requisite UGC or Distance Education Bureau approval when it granted him the BLISC degree. In the absence of such approval, the degree could not be treated as valid. The court also noted that in his affidavit-in-opposition filed in I.A. No. 85/2024, Rezzaqul Hussain had himself “almost admitted that he has no eligibility/degree of Library Science for being appointed as Assistant Librarian.”

The Record Manipulation Allegation

Rezzaqul Hussain's second line of attack was that the then Principal, Late Dewan Abul Hussain, had manipulated the Governing Body resolution dated 28 March 2010 to show him as having been upgraded to Assistant Librarian, when in fact he had never resigned from the post of Library Assistant. He pointed to the Director of Higher Education's report (Annexure-18), which had recorded his allegation that he served sometimes as Tutor in Philosophy, sometimes as Librarian, and sometimes as Assistant Librarian, but never resigned from his original post.

The In-Charge Principal of the college denied the manipulation allegation in an affidavit-in-opposition. The court found this to be a disputed question of fact. It acknowledged the Supreme Court's position in M/S A.P. Electrical Equipment Corporation v. The Tahsildar & Ors. (Civil Appeal Nos. 4526-4527 of 2024) and in State of Orissa v. Dr. (Miss) Binapani Dei (AIR 1967 SC 1269) that a writ court is not debarred from deciding disputed questions of fact and that the power to do so is one of discretion, not jurisdiction. However, the court concluded that the necessary facts and proofs had not been placed on record to permit such an inquiry in the present case.

The court also pointed to Annexure-10 of the interlocutory application — an individual information form submitted by Rezzaqul Hussain himself for provincialisation — in which he had described his post as Assistant Librarian and appended his BLISC certificates and mark sheets. On careful perusal, the court found that this document did not appear to be manipulated. It further observed that there is no rule permitting a person to work in two posts simultaneously, and that his appointment as Assistant Librarian and his subsequent work in that capacity weakened his argument that he had never resigned from the Library Assistant post.

Babul Hossain's Provincialisation Under the 2018 Act

The Assam Education (Provincialisation of Services of Non-Teaching Staff of Venture Educational Institutions) Act, 2018 sets out conditions for provincialisation under Section 4(2). The employee must have been working in a venture educational institution recognised on or before 1 January 2006; must have the minimum educational and professional qualifications under the relevant service rules as on 1 January 2011; and must have rendered at least six years of continuous service as on 1 January 2017, with the date of joining being on or before 31 December 2010.

Rezzaqul Hussain's counsel argued that Babul Hossain, appointed as Junior Assistant on 9 December 2006, had never served as Library Assistant and therefore could not satisfy the six-year continuous service requirement for that post under Section 4(2)(iii). The court rejected this argument. It accepted the respondent's position that the posts of Library Assistant and Junior Assistant are of the same rank, and that Babul Hossain's seniority from his date of joining on 9 December 2006 was properly considered by both the District Level Scrutiny Committee, Barpeta, and the State Level Selection Committee of Higher Education before his provincialisation was recommended and approved.

The court also referred to the Supreme Court's observations in Commissioner of Police v. Raj Kumar (MANU/SC/0565/2021) on the latitude of public employers in determining the suitability of candidates, holding that suitability is a matter for the employer and courts ordinarily do not substitute their view, provided the process is not illegal, unfair, or lacking in bona fides.

On the decision in Manashi Goswami v. State of Assam and Ors. (2009 (1) GLT 729), cited by the petitioner's counsel for the proposition that appointments contrary to service rules are null and void, the court held that the ratio would not advance the petitioner's case because he had failed to demonstrate that Babul Hossain's provincialisation contravened any provision of law.

Outcome

All three issues were answered in the negative. The writ petition WP(C) No. 5544/2023 was dismissed for want of merit. I.A. (Civil) No. 85/2024 filed by Babul Hossain was allowed, and the interim order dated 11 October 2023 staying his provincialisation was vacated. The parties were directed to bear their own costs.