While deciding a writ appeal in the case, the division bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising of Justice I.P. Mukerji and Justice Biswaroop Chowdhury held that non-teaching employees of the hostel/ mess of Malda Polytechnic should be treated as permanent employees of the college and should be granted allowances including service benefits.

In the said matter, the technical branch of the Education Department of the Government issued a notice that Malda Polytechnic was being taken over by the government.

In another notice, it is issued that in every mess and hostel attached to an engineering and technological college, a hostel committee would be set up. This committee would be entrusted with the duty of maintaining the service records of the employees concerned.

It said that these employees would be entitled to 50% of the dearness allowance sanctioned by the state government for their employees of comparable scale of pay. The employees would retire at the age of 60 years and be entitled to the retirement gratuity of half months’ pay for each completed year of service subject to a maximum of fifteen months.

Further, as per the notification dated 28^th October 2014, the hostel and mess employees of state-aided universities in West Bengal were to be treated as non-teaching employees of the respective institutions. Their salaries and allowances including other service benefits would also be the same as those of other non-teaching employees.