Provincialization order cannot be canceled for lack of committee recommendation after government sanction and higher-level approval.

The petitioner was appointed as a Section Teacher at Naba Milan ME Madrassa in 1992, joining on January 1, 1993

His service was provincialized by an order dated February 5, 2021, with effect from January 1, 2021

When the petitioner did not receive his salary, he filed a writ petition. During its pendency, the Director of Elementary Education issued an impugned order dated April 6, 2023, cancelling the provincialization of the petitioner’s service

The cancellation was based on a hearing committee report stating that while the State Level Scrutiny Committee (SLSC) had recommended him, the District Scrutiny Committee (DSC) had not

1. Whether the cancellation of the petitioner's provincialization order on the ground of lack of DSC recommendation was legally sustainable when the SLSC had already approved the proposal

2. Whether the petitioner was ineligible for provincialization due to another teacher teaching the same subject (Social Science)

The court applied the Assam Education (Provincialization of Services of Teachers and Re-organization of Educational Institutions) Act, 2017, and Rule 13 of the 2017 Rules

These provisions establish a tiered scrutiny process: the DSC first scrutinizes eligible schools and teachers, then forwards the list to the SLSC, which further forwards it to the State Government for notification. The Act requires a 1:30 pupil-teacher ratio, reflection in DISE data (pre-2017), and school recognition prior to January 1, 2006

The court found that the petitioner satisfied all statutory requirements, including DISE data reflection from 2010-2018 and requisite educational qualifications obtained in 2019

Regarding the respondent's contention that two teachers cannot be provincialized for the same subject, the court observed that the senior teacher (Mizanur Rahman) had retired on April 30, 2020, prior to the petitioner's provincialization in 2021; thus, the petitioner was the sole teacher for Social Science at the time of the order

Critically, the court noted that the SLSC—a higher authority than the DSC—had approved the petitioner’s case and the government had sanctioned the post

The lack of a DSC recommendation was raised only two years post-provitalization during a wage-disbursement meeting, which the court deemed insufficient to invalidate a previously finalized administrative act approved by superior committees

The Court set aside and quashed the order dated April 6, 2023. The respondents were directed to treat the petitioner’s provincialization as valid and release all outstanding wages effective from January 1, 2021, within a period of one month