Calcutta High Court Sets Aside Tribunal Order | Period Spent on Extraordinary Leave for Super-Specialty Course Not Counted as Teaching Experience for Promotion in ESIC
Isabella Mariam
The High Court of Calcutta, Division Bench of Justice Madhuresh Prasad and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya held that the period spent on extraordinary leave for pursuing a super-specialty course cannot be counted toward the mandatory teaching experience required for promotion. The Court set aside the Central Administrative Tribunal’s direction to reconsider the promotion of an Assistant Professor to Associate Professor in the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, observing that the candidate did not satisfy the teaching and research experience prescribed under the National Medical Commission Regulations. Consequently, the Bench upheld the Departmental Promotion Committee’s decision and allowed the writ petition.
The case concerned the denial of promotion to an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology under the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). The officer joined service in May 2016 at ESI-PGIMSR, Maniktala, and was later granted extraordinary leave from August 2016 to August 2019 to pursue a super-specialty course in Clinical Haematology at Nil Ratan Sirkar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. After completing the course, she rejoined duty in August 2019 and was subsequently transferred to the ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Joka, in November 2021.
Under the ESIC Medical Teaching Faculty Recruitment Regulations, 2015, promotion to the post of Associate Professor required five years of regular service as Assistant Professor, subject to satisfaction of the National Medical Commission (NMC) norms. The Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) considered her case in February 2023 but found her unfit for promotion, holding that the three-year period of study leave could not be treated as teaching experience. The Director General of ESIC affirmed this finding through a reasoned order issued in July 2023.
The respondent challenged the decision before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Kolkata Bench, which set aside the ESIC order and directed reconsideration of her promotion. The ESIC authorities then filed a writ petition before the High Court.
Before the High Court, the petitioner relied on the 2015 ESIC Regulations, the NMC’s 2019 “Minimum Qualification for Teachers in Medical Institutions” Regulations, and the 2022 “Teachers Eligibility Qualifications in Medical Institutions” Regulations. It was argued that these required actual teaching and research experience and excluded study leave from such computation. The respondent argued that the period of extraordinary leave was treated as “on duty” and should therefore count toward service. The dispute centered on whether the study period qualified as teaching experience for promotion eligibility.
The Court observed that the 2019 Regulations explicitly prescribed “four years of teaching and research experience as Assistant Professor” in a permitted or recognized medical college. It held that Dr. Dutta’s three-year study leave period, though treated as ‘on duty’ for service purposes, did not amount to teaching experience. The Bench stated: “During the period of study, the applicant did not perform the duties of teaching on the post of Assistant Professor and, therefore, did not possess the requisite teaching experience.”
Referring to Clause 3.11 of the NMC’s Teacher’s Eligibility Qualifications in Medical Institutions Regulations, 2022, the Court recorded: “The period spent by the teaching faculty towards acquisition of degree in Super Specialty subject on concurrent duties/deputation shall not be counted as teaching experience for fulfilling eligibility criteria for promotion in the concerned Super Specialty department.” The Court noted that even though Dr. Dutta belonged to the broad specialty of Pathology, and not a super-specialty department, the principle underlying Clause 3.11 was applicable to her case.
The Court rejected the contention that the exclusion applied only to promotion in the concerned super-specialty department, observing: “We do not find any substance in such submission advanced on behalf of the applicant so as to justify counting of the three-year period spent by the applicant in study, concurrently as teaching experience.” The Bench clarified that teaching experience requires active engagement in teaching duties and research, which cannot be substituted by study or training.
Citing precedents from the Supreme Court, including V.B. Prasad v. Manager, P.M.D. Upper Primary School [(2007) 10 SCC 269] and Vivek Mudgil v. State of U.P. [(2019) 2 SCC 427], the Court held that periods spent on study leave cannot be counted towards teaching experience. The Court recorded: “Eligibility condition must be satisfied before a person is considered for promotion/appointment in respect of a particular post.”
The Court stated: “We find no infirmity in rejection of the applicant’s claim for promotion as Associate Professor by the DPC dated 02.02.2023.” It further held that Dr. Dutta “did not have the requisite qualification of teaching experience as contemplated under the 2015 Regulations read with the 2019 Regulations.”
“When the requirement in the NMC 2019 Regulations is of teaching experience, then the three-year period during which the petitioner was pursuing the super-specialty courses, cannot be taken into consideration.”
The Division Bench therefore allowed the writ petition and dismissed the Original Application before the Tribunal, holding that there was “no occasion for this Court to interfere with the reasoned and speaking order dated 14.07.2023 passed by the Director General. The order of the Tribunal, in view of the discussion and consideration above is unsustainable. The Tribunal’s order dated 21.07.2025 passed in O.A. No. 1639 of 2023 is hereby set aside.”
Advocates Representing the Parties:
For the Petitioner: Mr. Shiv Chandra Prasad.
For the Respondents: Mr. Manujendra Narayan Roy, Mr. Biswarup Nandy, and Mr. Rajesh Kr. Shah.
Case Title: The Dean in Charge, ESI-PGIMSR, ESIC Medical College and ESIC Hospital & DCE (EZ) vs. Dr. Bijita Dutta & Ors.
Case Number: W.P.C.T. 103 of 2025
Bench: Justice Madhuresh Prasad and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya
