Ram Narayan Thakur v. The State of Bihar

learned counsel for Madhubani Zila Parishad and its authority.

2. This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner for the following reliefs:- (i) For a direction to the respondents to pay gratuity to the petitioner in the revised pay scale as recommended by 5th and 6th Pay Revision Committee. Thereby, the petitioner prays that an amount of Rs.3,50,000.00 legally payable to the petitioner in terms with the revised pay scale as recommended by the 5th and 6th Pay Revision Committee be paid to the petitioner. (ii) For a further direction to the respondents to make payment of leave encashment amount Patna High Court CWJC No.14237 of 2005 (12) dt.21-11-2012 - 2 - tune of Rs.2,70,017.00 petitioner in the same revised pay scale as the 5th and 6th Pay recommended by Revision Committees. no.1213 in memo (iii) The petitioner further prays that the arrears of salary the revised pay scale as the 5th and 6th Pay recommended by Revision Committees be also paid to the petitioner in the light of the order/letter contained 28.01.1986 issued under the signature of the Under Secretary of the Rural Development Department and further taking into account the fact that the pay scale of the post of Assistant Engineers working under the Zila Parishad/District Boards petitioner was upgraded and brought at par with the scale of pay admissible to the employees similarly working under the respondent State by one letter no.429 dated 09th February 1965 issued under the signature of respondent Deputy Secretary of the then Community Development and Panchayat Department, Government of Bihar. including officers/ situated

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner was appointed in the Madhubani Zila Parishad (hereinafter referred to „as the Parishad‟ for the sake of brevity) on the post of Overseer and after due promotion he was functioning as Assistant Engineer in the Parishad when he superannuated with effect from 31.01.2002.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner states that with a view to uniformity in the pay scale of Assistant Engineers and Overseers under the Rural Engineering Organizations Patna High Court CWJC No.14237 of 2005 (12) dt.21-11-2012 - 3 - irrespective of the source of their recruitment, the Government found it desirable for the District Boards to upgrade the pay scale of Assistant Engineers/Supervisors and Overseer/ Sub- overseers to bring it at par with the Government scale of pay, if necessary, with the approval of the Government. Thus, a letter dated 09.02.1965 was issued by the Community Development & Panchayat Department to the concerned authority for creation of Rural Engineering Organization. In the said letter, it was held that after the scale is upgraded, only really suitable existing incumbents, to be selected by a Board constituted by the District Board, will be appointed in the upgraded scale with the previous approval of the Chief Engineer, in case of Overseers and Government in case of Assistant Engineers.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner avers thereafter a selection Board was appointed and after due selection process result was published on 29.11.1971 (Annexure-4) in which the petitioner was noted as the successful candidate from Darbhanga. Thereafter on

28.01.1986 a letter was issued by the department to the Chief Executive Officer of the Parishad reiterating the aforesaid result dated 29.11.1971 recommending appointment of the selected candidates. In the meantime, letter dated 18.02.1977 Patna High Court CWJC No.14237 of 2005 (12) dt.21-11-2012 - 4 - (Annexure-13) was also issued by the Department following the letter of the Government dated 09.02.1965.

6. Learned counsel for the petitioner claims that the respondents-authorities relied upon Bihar Gazette dated

12.12.2000 along with their statements made in paragraph 5 and 6 of the supplementary counter affidavit according to which the Parishad had the responsibility to decide to which of the District Engineer, Assistant Engineer and Junior Engineer payment be made first from the fund of the Parishad. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that the said orders were never recalled or withdrawn by the authorities nor they were challenged by any one.

7. On the other hand, learned counsel for respondents-State of Bihar and its authorities submits that the petitioner had retired on 31.01.2002 and much thereafter he had filed this writ petition on 21.11.2005 without explaining any reason for such a huge delay. Hence, his writ petition is fit to be dismissed on this score.

8. Learned counsel for the respondents-State of Bihar and its authorities states that in pursuance of various orders passed in CWJC No.1371 of 1987 and MJC No.2602 of 2000 and the subsequent memo of appeal and special leave petition Patna High Court CWJC No.14237 of 2005 (12) dt.21-11-2012 - 5 - on the matter of promotion/regularization of services of engineering cadre of the Parishad, the State Government has framed and notified the “Bihar Zila Parishad Junior Engineer and Assistant Engineer Service Cadre Rules, 2000” vide notification No.4145 dated 12.12.2000 which was duly published the Extra Ordinary Gazette of the State Government. These Rules are the only Rules to regulate the service conditions of the Engineering Cadre working with the Zila Parishads in the State.

9. Learned counsel for the respondents-State of Bihar and its authorities further avers that apart from the aforesaid Rules, any other Rules or Government Orders/ Circulars etc. issued by some other Department of the State Government on the matter of any integrated service of Engineering Cadre of Rural Area does not have any co-relation with the service condition of the Engineering Cadre of the Zila Parishad of the State. The petitioner being working under the Zila Parishad, Madhubani and retired from the active service of the said Parishad on 31.01.2002 cannot legally ignore the aforesaid Rules, 2000.

10. Learned counsel for the respondents-State of Bihar its authorities asserts that petitioner had filed an Patna High Court CWJC No.14237 of 2005 (12) dt.21-11-2012 - 6 - application dated 05.03.1999 for the reliefs claimed in the writ petition and in that application he had admitted to be an employee of the Zila Parishad. Hence petitioner not being the employee of the State Government he will be governed by the service condition of the Parishad and only some conditions of service are same in both. He also states that the responsibility of the State Government to the employees of the Parishad is limited only to the contribution of some share in the salaries. Hence, the claim of the petitioner is fit to be rejected.

11. Learned counsel for the respondent- Madhubani Zila Parishad adopts the arguments of learned counsel for the State of Bihar and submits that Zila Parishad has already paid the salaries and emoluments as has already been paid to such other employees of Madhubani Zila Parishad and hence petitioner is not entitled to any relief.

12. From the arguments made by learned counsel for the parties and the materials on record, it appears that it is not in dispute that the petitioner was an employee of the Zila Parishad and in view of letter issued by the Community Development & Panchayat Department dated 09.02.1965 (Annexure-2) he has raised his claim relying upon paragraph 6 thereof which reads as follows:- Patna High Court CWJC No.14237 of 2005 (12) dt.21-11-2012 - 7 - “6. With a view to have uniformity in the pay scale of Assistant Engineers and Overseers under the Rural Engineering Organisations, irrespective of the source of their recruitment, it is desirable for the District Boards to up-grade the pay scale of the post of their Assistant Engineers/ Supervisors and Overseer/ Sub-overseers to being it at par with the Government scale of pay, if necessary, with the approval of Government. After the really suitable existing incumbents, to be selected by a Board constituted by the District Board, will be appointed in the upgraded scale with the previous approval of the Chief Engineer, in case of Overseers and Government in case of Assistant Engineers.” is upgraded, only

13. From a bare perusal of the scheme as provided in the said letter it transpires that there are four stages with respect to the promotion of an employee of the Parishad. The first being up-gradation of scale of pay by Zila Parishad, the second being approval of the State Government, if required, the third being the selection of candidates by selection Board constituted by the Zila Parishad and the fourth being appointment in the upgraded scale by the Zila Parishad.

14. In the instant case, learned counsel for the petitioner has stated that up-gradation of scale of pay had been made by Zila Parishad much earlier, but thereafter steps had not been taken as per the said scheme as there is nothing to show that there was any approval of the State Government, rather the selection Board had been constituted by the State Government, Patna High Court CWJC No.14237 of 2005 (12) dt.21-11-2012 - 8 - although it should have been constituted by the Zila Parishad and only the said Board was empowered to announce the result and thereafter appointment was to be made by the Zila Parishad. The petitioner has failed to show any such step taken by the Zila Parishad either for constitution of the selection Board or for the appointment on the upgraded scale and all those things are found to be done by the authorities of the Government who were not empowered to do that in view of the scheme of things. But in spite of that the aforesaid letter dated 09.11.1965 was issued by the Government of Bihar beyond its authority on which the petitioner has placed much reliance.

15. Furthermore, new Rules having come into force in view of the notification issued in the Bihar Gazette dated

12.12.2000 all the process for selection/promotion etc. had to be made as per the provision of the said new Rules and not as per the aforesaid earlier Rules which were not properly followed by any of the authorities.

16. In the said circumstances, this Court does not find any merit in this writ petition which is accordingly dismissed. Sunil/- (S.N. Hussain, J)