High Court
Legal Reasoning
WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAYBENCH AT AURANGABADWRIT PETITION NO. 5206 OF 20251)Manjaji Umarao Nawale2)Suresh Gangadhar Bende3)Kailas Sopanrao Chavan4)Krushna Laxmanrao Gadhave5)Sachin Shriniwasrao Deshmukh6)Amrapali Anant Tenkale7)Sagar Dnyanba Rothe8)Gajanan Gyanbarao Ingole9)Datta Motiram Kanchangire10)Santosh Bhagwanrao Shinde11)Balaji Punjajirao Ambhore12)Angad Rukamaji Bahane13)Dipke Dayananad Vishwanath14)Gajanan Balaji Siddhewar15)Phulari Sanjivani Narshingrao16)Mohammed Baba Mohiuddin… PetitionersVersus1)The State Of Maharashtra Through The Secretary Rural Development DepartmentMaharashtra State Mantralaya, Mumbai – 32 and Others.… RespondentsWITHCIVIL APPLICATION NO. 5275 OF 2025IN WRIT PETITION NO. 5206 OF 2025Dnyaneshwar s/o Balasaheb Sonawane and OthersVersusThe State of Maharashtra through the Secretary and OthersWITHCIVIL APPLICATION NO. 5276 OF 2025IN WRIT PETITION NO. 5206 OF 2025Sharda Devilal Joshi and OthersVersusThe State of Maharashtra through the Secretary and Others1/13
Legal Reasoning
WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.…ANDWRIT PETITION NO. 5667 OF 20251. Vishnudas Vaijnath Shinde2. Poonam Laxmanrao Rabbewar3. Shaikh Moujam Abdul4. Bharati Madhukar Shankar5. Shivaji Balasaheb Kadam6. Shridevi Subhash Terkar7. Anita Balasaheb Mugatkar8. Rohini Dharmaraj Chilkewar9. Bhagwat Dnyanoba Palmate10. Sangita Shivaji Shivbhagat11. Mangesh Balasaheb Kate12. Sandhya Arunrao Jadhav… Petitioners VersusThe State of MaharashtraThrough the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, Mantralaya,Mumbai – 32 and others… Respondents …ANDWRIT PETITION NO. 5208 OF 20251. Karhale Dnyaneshwar Laxmanrao2. Dabhade Parmeshwar Jankiram3. Jadhav Parshuram Naryan4. Fund Anant Mukundrao5. Wadgaonkar Yograj Balasaheb6. Davne Arvind Nagorao7. Bansare Kiran Manchakrao8. Puri Manoj Vishwanathrao9. Gaikwad Ashok Vishnu10. Mane Shankar Rustum11. Ghule Pravin Eknathrao12. Salmothe Kashinath Rambhau13. Kuyrewar Dattatray Narhari14. Galande Hanuman Raghoji2/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.15. Parsewar Pritam Anantrao16. Mali Vijay Dnyanoba17. Patil Sonali Kamlakar18. Pudgane Suvarna Manohar19. Karhale Devrao Bankatrao20. Abuj Datta Kundlikrao21. Dhage Bhamha Sadashiv22. Kakade Sanjay Laxman23. Kadam Chandrakant Kerba24. Katkade Raghunath Shivaji25. Jawade Suresh Dnyanoba26. Bhosle Tryambak Kishanrao27. Misal Gajanan Haraji28. Panchal Raju Gangadharrao29. Horgule Manik Sundarrao30. Rathod Prakash Shankarrao31. Pate Angad Sundarrao32. Khakre Nitin Vitthalrao33. Gore Gorakhnath Tulshiram34. Dombe Vishnu Balasaheb35. Dhumal Shrutika Santilal… Petitioners VersusThe State of MaharashtraThrough the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, Mantralaya,Mumbai – 32 and others… Respondents …ANDWRIT PETITION NO. 5207 OF 20251. Subhash Narayanrao Kadam2. Balasaheb Pandurang Mustapure3. Pratibha Prabhakar Bhosle4. Ravi Manikrao Lohat5. Varsha Balasaheb Maske6. Nagesh Subhashrao Patharkar7. Vaishali Shivling Kalshetti8. Vijay Nagorao Jalhare9. Manisha Bhaurao Raut3/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.10. Tukaram Sopanrao Harkal11. Jyoti Prabhakar Bhagwat12. Dnyaneshwar Vishnu Waghmare13. Vinod Chandrakant Kshetrapale… Petitioners VersusThe State of MaharashtraThrough the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, Mantralaya,Mumbai – 32 and others… Respondents …ANDWRIT PETITION NO. 5131 OF 20251. Pathare Mahesh Dattatraya2. Bansode Balasaheb Dattatray3. Gangarde Pravin Kailas4. Desai Rameshwar Bhagawan5. Bharti Vandana Prakash6. Daund Ganesh Laxman7. Dudhal Navnath Shivaji8. Kedar Rohini Ashok9. Katkhade Dnyaneshwar Sarjerao10. Shinde Shital Murlidhar11. Salunke Sandeep Navnath12. Gayke Babasaheb Tukaram13. Pokale Shital Mahadev14. Bokare Nitin Bhaskar15. Chaure Prasad Prabhakar16. Waghire Kailas Dnyanobarao17. Maske Sandip Bapurao18. Khade Rameshwar Rajabhau19. Waghmare Atul Laxmanro20. Mule Ashwini Balasaheb21. Pawar Rakesh Suniul22. Ghorad Baburao Ramnarayan23. Sanap Rajendra Babasaheb24. Fasale Nitin Limbajirao25. Naiknawre Vijaymala Baliram26. Thorve Shushen Appasaheb4/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.27. Gaikwad Rahul Gundiram28. Shinde Ganesh Marotirao29. Gormali Hanumant Mahadev30. Giri Nana Baliram31. Dake Digambar Limbajirao32. Aradle Surekha Nivartti33. Gore Balasaheb Bhiva34. Dasud Ramabai Arvind35. Male Manisha Shivraj36. Shaikh Javed Malik37. Andil Geetatai Jivraj… Petitioners VersusThe State of MaharashtraThrough the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, Mantralaya,Mumbai – 32 and others… Respondents …ANDWRIT PETITION NO. 5106 OF 20251. Mahesh Satuba Doifode2. Umesh Vishnu Kakade3. Prashant Vikram Shelke4. Rajendra Bhimaji Chaudhari5. Kavita Maruti Dhakane6. Ganesh Ramchandra Kambale7. Nilesh Ratnakar Varade8. Shrinivas Bhumiraj Ellaram9. Ravindra Somanath Supare10. Anita Shivaji Aher11. Arun Bhikaji Kasar12. Smita Raosaheb Pawar13. Suvarna Bhagwat Jadhav14. Meenakshi Madhav Wakchaure15. Swati Prakash Darvade16. Rupali Bharat Deshmukh17. Ashwini Sampat Pawar18. Narayan Rajaram Kawade… Petitioners5/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors. VersusThe State of MaharashtraThrough the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, Mantralaya,Mumbai – 32 and others… Respondents …ANDWRIT PETITION NO. 5303 OF 20251. Bhausaheb S/o Shivajirao Mundhe2. Mahesh S/o Manohar Biradar3. Sanjay S/o Yallappa Dandagole4. Mansing S/o Manikrao Hande5. Nabilal S/o Jilani Mujawar6. Manoj S/o Kashinath Pawar7. Somnath S/o Parbat Gadakh8. Manik S/o Madhav Murkute9. Santosh S/o Tukaram Kadam10. Sonali S/o Nivrutti Nathe… Petitioners VersusThe State of MaharashtraThrough the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, Mantralaya,Mumbai – 32 and others… Respondents …ANDWRIT PETITION NO. 5848 OF 20251)Mangal Babarao Sonkamble2)Avinash Balasaheb Eklare3)Gaikwad Pramod Ganpatrao4)Badgire Bhagwat Surykant5)Auradwale Sattarpasha Rasulab6)Suryawanshi Angad Nagorao7)Telange Gajanan Shankarrao6/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.8)Savane Anagha Dilipkumar9)Kaulwar Hanmant Mallu10)Karkile Govind Vyankatrao11)Waghe Santosh Yeshwant12)Madde Balaji Govindrao13)Dhage Balaji Baliram14)Panchal Dilip Rajeshwar15)Panchal Varsha Shrimant16)Chintewar Priyanka Santram17)Sheikh Shabnam Bandenawaj…PetitionersVERSUS1)The State of Maharashtra,Through the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, MantralayaMumbai-32 and others…Respondents…ANDWRIT PETITION NO. 5847 OF 20251)Mahesh Uttamrao More2)Vilas Dattatraya Gurme3)Swati Vasantrao Chidrewar4)Ram Venketrao Kadam5)Vitthal Baburao Kurmude6)Sangeeta Namdev Jatal7)Asha Ram Munde8)Kusum Sopan Bombade…PetitionersVERSUS1)The State of Maharashtra,Through the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, MantralayaMumbai-32and others…Respondents.…7/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.…ANDWRIT PETITION NO.5669 OF 20251)Anil Eknath Tekane2)Dipak Nivrutti Jadhav3)Satish Appa Kauthlae4)Ashvini Bhanudas Kadam5)Pratiksha Machhindranath Pagar6)Balu Zumbar Khade7)Gaikwad Rajendra Dadasaheb8)Bhagwanta Sakharam Sabale9)Jyoti Lahanu Ghule10)Kawade Pankaj Kisan11)Shete Sujata Sitaram12)Hase Shobha Ramji13)Sujata Subhash Katore14)Sandip Dnyandeo Pawase15)Ravindra Madhukar Chavan…PetitionersVERSUS1)The State of Maharashtra,Through the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, MantralayaMumbai-32and others…Respondents…WRIT PETITION NO.5668 OF 20251)Ravikant Govindrao Bhise2)Shivaji Prabhu Chikhale3)Nitin Shamrao Ghute4)Mali Shriram Vitthal5)Patil Shubhada Vijaysingh6)Mali Pratap Bharat7)Somvanshi Kamlakar Vasant8)Mane Anil Pralhad9)Chunge Santosh Babasaheb10)Dixit Ramakant Jagnnath11)Havade Balaji Shivaji…Petitioners8/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.VERSUS1)The State of Maharashtra,Through the SecretaryRural Development Department,Maharashtra State, MantralayaMumbai-32 and others…Respondents.…•Mr. P. R. Katneshwarkar, Senior Advocate i/by Mr. Balaji S. Shinde, Advocate for the Petitioners•Mr. Avinash Aghav, Advocate for the Petitioner in Writ Petition No. 5303 of 2025•Mr. Mukesh K. Goyanka, AGP for Respondent/s-State in all Writ Petitions•Mr. S. B. Ghute, Advocate for Zilla Parishad, Hingoli•Ms. Manjushri Narwade, Advocate for Zilla Parishad, Ahilyanagar•Mr. Suhas R. Shirsat, Advocate for Zilla Parishad, Beed•Mr. Akshay S. Radikar, Advocate for Zilla Parishad, Parbhani•Mr. S. B. Ghute, Advocate for Zilla Parishads – Latur & Osmanabad in Writ Petition No. 5303 of 2025 and Writ Petition No. 5847 of 2025•Ms. Yogita Thorat, Advocate for Zilla Parishad, Nanded…CORAM: MANGESH S. PATIL & Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, JJ.RESERVED ON :05.05.2025PRONOUNCED ON : 09.05.2025ORDER (MANGESH S. PATIL, J.) :. Heard learned senior advocate Mr. Katneshwarkar forthe petitioners. Learned advocate Mr. Aghav who appears for thepetitioner in Writ Petition No. 5303 of 2025. Learned AGP9/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.Mr. Goyanka for the State in all the matters and learned advocates forthe respective Zilla Parishads namely Hingoli, Ahilyanagar, BeedParbhani, Latur, Osmanabad and Nanded.2.A common issue that arises in all these writ petitions is,as to whether after their mutual transfer inter-district from one ZillaParishad to another Zilla Parishad, pursuant to Rule 6(8)(ii) of theMaharashtra Zilla Parishad Service District (Recruitment) Rules, 1967and their seniority in the transferee Zilla Parishad is fixed accordingly,the same has to be considered for deciding seniority in the transfereeZilla Parishad, in the matter of consideration for the purpose of intra-district transfer.3.After hearing both the sides, it transpires that the sameissue was addressed to the Court previously on numerous occasions,in the matter of Satish Shahadeo Gawade and Others V/s. The Stateof Maharashtra and Others; Writ Petition No. 102 of 2020 andconnected matters decided on 21.04.2022 at the Aurangabad Bench,Dilip Ramdas Shinde and Others V/s. The State of Maharashtra andOthers; Writ Petition No. 6896 of 2022 and connected matters, on12.07.2022, Somnath Bhausaheb Pimpale and Others V/s. The Stateof Maharashtra and Others; Writ Petition No. 9368 of 2022 andconnected Writ Petition No. 10374 of 2022 in which the order waspassed on 11.10.2022 and similar ad interim order was passed in10/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.Writ Petition No. 9368 of 2022 on 21.09.2022. The division bench inthe matter of Satish Shahadeo Gawade (Supra) not only decided theissue with whatever reasons, the division bench in the matter of DilipRamdas Shinde (Supra) by specifically referring to the decision in thematter of Satish Shahadeo Gawade (Supra), disposed of, AshokKisanrao Dolas and Others V/s. State of Maharashtra and Others inWrit Petition No. 6391 of 2022, on 01.07.2022 with following order:-5.In the light of the above, these petitions aredisposed off, with a direction to the Zilla Parishads, toconsider the cases of these petitioners in the light oftheir representations, if such representations have notyet been decided and are still pending. We clarify that, ifrepresentations have already been responded to, by theZilla Parishads, repeated representation need not beconsidered repeatedly. As such, those representations ofthese petitioners, which have been filed for the first timeand no other representations were filed by them earlier,the Zilla Parishads would rely on the GovernmentResolution dated 07/04/2021 and initiate appropriatesteps for preparation of the seniority list of all suchsimilarly situated employees.4.In spite of such orders, the State has persisted with thesame stand. The affidavit-in-reply filed in Writ Petition No. 5206 of2025 and in several other writ petitions it has maintained the stand,inter alia, mentioning that the seniority under Rule 6(8)(ii) of theRules of 1967 is merely meant to fix the seniority after a person istransferred from one Zilla Parishad to another Zilla Parishad, in orderto extend the service benefits. It is the stand of the State that this has11/13 WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.nothing to do with the seniority of such candidates for the purpose ofeffecting transfers intra-district that is within the district for whichinvariably a person has to put in minimum of five years in the sameschool for being even eligible to be transferred. It is the stand in theaffidavit-in-reply that question of intra-district transfer is not coveredby the Rules of 1967 but is being erroneously resorted to, to claimseniority even for the purpose of effecting transfer, the purpose andreason for which is altogether different.5.We are afraid, the propriety demands that we maintainjudicial discipline. When the co-ordinate division benches expresslyreferring to Clause No. 4.5.1 of the Government Resolution dated07.04.2021 have taken consistent views in favour of such employeeswho have been transferred inter district mutually, we shall follow thesame same course. It appears that a clarification was sought from theState Government by Zilla Parishad, Jalna and by the reply dated25.07.2022 (Exhibit – ‘D’) in Writ Petition No. 5206 of 2025, theState has again repeated the stand of interpreting Clause No. 4.5.1 ofthe Government Resolution dated 07.04.2021 being applicable onlyin support of such employees who have been serving with the currentZilla Parishad and not in respect of the candidates who have beentransferred inter-district.12/13
Decision
WP NO. 5206 OF 2025 & Ors.6.In view of above, all the Writ Petitions are allowed interms of prayer clauses ‘B’, which reads as under:-[B]By issuing appropriate writ, order or directions in thelike nature, kindly direct the respondents to makenecessary correction Online teachers TransferManagement system as per date of mutual transferseniority dates as per Rule 6(8)(2) of Maharashtra ZillaParishad District Services (Recruitment) Rules, 1967about current district joining date and to consider thepetitioners for intr-district transfer.Additionally, the impugned letter issued by Dy. Secretary,dated 28.03.2025 communicated the directions pursuant to themeeting dated 17.03.2025 and the different communications of theEducation Officers of respective Zilla Parishads refusing to considerthe date of seniority, according to Rule 6(8)(ii) are quashed and setaside.7.Pending Civil Applications are disposed of.(Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, J.)(MANGESH S. PATIL, J.)jhs/13/13