Authority: West Bengal High Court, Court No.13
Order Date: 24 July 2026
Case Overview
- CAN 1 of 2025 (Condonation of Delay): The appellant filed an application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 seeking condonation of a 93‑day delay in filing the appeal. The Court, after hearing counsel, found the grounds satisfactory and allowed the condonation. No order as to costs was made.
- MAT 1955 of 2025 (Intra‑court Appeal) – CAN 2 of 2025: The appeal challenges an order dated 11 August 2025 passed by a Single Judge in W.P.A. 254 of 2025. The Single Bench had directed the District Mass Education Officer to decide payment of retiral dues for the petitioner based on documents from respondent No. 5, a Commercial Institute run by the Secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Narendrapur. The petitioner, Saktipada Mukherjee, was a teacher of Shorthand and Typewriting in English. The order remained unimplemented; the Single Bench held the petitioner to be only a CPF optee, not a GPF optee.
- The petitioner relied on precedents: District Inspector of Schools (S.E.), Kolkata vs Abhijit Baidya (2013 SCC OnLine Cal 13189) and the unreported Larger Bench decision in Md. Abdul Ghani vs The State of West Bengal & Ors. (APOT 104 of 2006, 2019).
Court Findings & Directions
1. The Director of Public Instructions, West Bengal, shall, within one month of receipt of this order, make an appropriate decision on payment of pension to the petitioner. If similarly placed persons in the same institution have been granted pension, the petitioner shall also receive it.
2. The institution shall provide the petitioner with the requisite option form and any other necessary documents; if the institution fails to do so, the Director shall ensure their availability.
3. The impugned order is hereby modified accordingly.
4. No affidavit was filed by the respondents; consequently, the allegations in the stay application and writ petition are not deemed admitted.
5. MAT 1955 of 2025 is disposed of, and the connected application CAN 2 of 2025 is also disposed of. No order as to costs.
6. All parties are directed to act on a server copy of this order downloaded from the official website of the Court.
Final Outcome
- The Court granted condonation of the 93‑day filing delay (CAN 1 of 2025) and disposed of the application without costs.
- The pension dispute was resolved by directing the Director of Public Instructions to decide within one month and by modifying the earlier order, thereby granting the petitioner the benefit of the larger‑bench precedents.
- Both the appeal (MAT 1955 of 2025) and the related condonation application (CAN 2 of 2025) were disposed of with no costs awarded.
Topics: Pension Relief, Judicial Order