State of Bihar Through the Department of Home (Special), Government of Bihar, Patna, P.O v. Bariatu, P.O. & P.S. – Bariatu, District – Ranchi, Jharkhand, P.O. & P.S. –
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI (Letters Patent Appellate Jurisdiction) L.P.A. No. 511 of 2019 ------ State of Bihar Through the Department of Home (Special), Government of Bihar, Patna, P.O. & P.S. – Sachivalaya, Patna, Bihar. .... .... …. Appellant 1. Rajendra Pratap Sinha, S/o Late Dr. Anjani Kumar, resident of Versus Bariatu, P.O. & P.S. – Bariatu, District – Ranchi, Jharkhand, P.O. & P.S. – Dhurwa, Ranchi. 2. State of Jharkhand. 3. Principal Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms & Rajbhasha, Government of Jharkhand, P.O. & P.S. – Dhurwa, District – Ranchi, Jharkhand. .... .... .... Respondents ------
Legal Reasoning
CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SHREE CHANDRASHEKHAR HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE PRADEEP KUMAR SRIVASTAVA ------ : Mr. S.P. Roy, Advocate. : Mr. Ajit Kumar, Advocate. : Mr. Sreenu Garapati, SC-III ------ For the Appellant For the Resp. No.1 For the Resp. Nos.2 &3 Order No.09/ Dated: 31st October 2023 I.A. No. 7344 of 2019 1. This application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act has been filed for the reason that the State of Bihar has chosen to prefer a Letters Patent Appeal against the order passed in W.P. (S) No. 3844 of 2008, after a delay of 3965 days. 2. In this application, the applicant – State of Bihar has averred that only after obtaining necessary opinion and permissions from the authorities, L.P.A. No. 511 of 2019 could be filed but, in the meantime, a delay of 3965 days has occurred which was neither intentional nor deliberate. 3. More specifically, the applicant has stated thus :- “6. That on 26.02.2009 judgment and order was passed by Hon’ble Mr. Justice D.G.R. Patnaik in W.P. (S) No. 3844/2008 Rajendra Pratap Sinha Versus The State of Bihar and others. 7. That vide oath taken on 02.09.2009, Civil Review No. 112/2009 was filed by the Appellant for review/recall of the dated 26.02.2009 passed in W.P. (S) No. 3844/2008 Rajendra Pratap Sinha Versus The State of Jharkhand and others. 8. That on 15.02.2009, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Kumar passed order in Civil Review No. 112/2009 wherein it has been held -2- “the ground for review is very limited. Error of law cannot be a ground of review. Learned Single Judge has taken decision on merit of course i.e. contrary to the subsequent decision taken by the LPA Court but that can be a ground for appeal and not for review.
Decision
In view of the above facts, the present review petition is disposed of by giving liberty to the petitioner to avail appropriate remedy in accordance with law. 9. That on 20.02.2019, the Learned Government Advocate, Bihar in Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi has sent a letter which was received in Department on 21.02.2019. The Learned Government Advocate opined that Department may choose to file LPA against the dated 26.02.2009 passed in W.P. (S) No. 3844/2008 Rajendra Pratap Sinha Versus The State of Jharkhand and others. 10. That on 26.03.2019, the file for filing appeal against the aforesaid order dated 26.02.2009 passed in W.P. (S) No. 3844/2008 Rajendra Pratap Sinha Versus The State of Jharkhand and others was sent to Law Department, Bihar for obtaining necessary advice for filing appeal. 11. That on 06.05.2019, the Law Department returned back the file with required permission to Home Department, Government of Bihar on 09.05.2019. 12. That on 03.06.2019, the file sent to Legal Cell, Home Department for preparation of statement of facts for filing appeal. 13. That on 18.06.2019, the Statement of fact for filing the LPA was prepared by Legal Cell, Home Department, Government of Bihar and returned back the file. 14. That on 11.07.2019, the file was sent to Legal Cell, Home Department, Government of Bihar for preparation of condonation of delay. Grounds for filing condonation of delay for filing LPA was prepared by Legal Cell, Home Department, Government of Bihar. 15. That vide letter no. 7116 dated 17.07.2019 the deponent was authorized to file LPA and swear affidavit in this case.” 4. This application seeking condonation of delay has been vehemently opposed by Mr. Ajit Kumar, the learned counsel for the respondent no. 1 primarily on the ground that there is no explanation least to say sufficient cause shown by the appellant for condoning the delay of 3965 days in filing the present Letters Patent Appeal. -3- 5. There is no affidavit in opposition filed by the State of Jharkhand in I.A. No. 7344 of 2019 but, notwithstanding that, Mr. Sreenu Garapati, S.C.-III, the learned counsel for the State of Jharkhand has also opposed this application seeking condonation of delay. 6. We have carefully gone through the statements made in the present interlocutory application seeking condonation of delay and formed an opinion that I.A. No. 7344 of 2019 cannot be entertained for several reasons. 7. The present Letters Patent Appeal was filed on 1st August 2019 and since then this matter has remained pending final consideration mainly because it was not prosecuted by the appellant – State of Bihar. 8. This is a well settled law that while examining the cause shown by the applicant seeking condonation of delay the Court may have a glance through the judgment under challenge so as to form an opinion whether an irreparable loss shall be caused to the applicant if the delay in filing the petition / appeal is not condoned by the Court. We have also this in our mind that stake of the parties in the petition / appeal shall also be a relevant fact inasmuch as if for some frivolous and even for trivial matter the appeal is preferred with inordinate delay, the application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act should not be entertained by the Court. 9. With the aforesaid considerations in our mind, we have glanced through the writ Court’s order and find that the appeal preferred by the State of Bihar has prima facie no merit. 10. Before the writ Court, a grievance was raised by the respondent no. 1 to Memo No. 1014 dated 20th February, 2008 by which his seniority in the gradation list of Deputy Secretary / Additional Collector was brought down to Sl. No. 160 from Sl. No. 143. Now, not only the respondent no. 1 has superannuated from service in 2014, this has not been brought on record that he was granted further promotion after the writ Court pronounced the judgment on 26th February 2009. 11. The writ Court has taken a view that the case set up by the respondent no. 1 who was the writ petitioner was in fact a case of -4- allotment of his services to the successor State of Jharkhand on account of which he cannot loose his seniority particularly in view of the provisions under Section 73 of the Bihar Reorganization Act, 2000. 12. Mr. S.P. Roy, the learned counsel for the State of Bihar has brought to our notice an order of this Court passed in W.P. (C) No. 511 of 2009 “The State of Bihar v. Ravindra Prasad Singh & Others” wherein a Coordinate Bench of this Court has taken a view that the protection under proviso to Section 73 of the Bihar Reorganization Act is not available to the employees seeking mutual transfer. Mr. S.P. Roy, the learned counsel has also brought to our notice the order dated 19th September, 2014 by which the Special Leave Petition preferred by one of the respondents in LPA No. 511 of 2009 against the judgment and order dated 22nd April, 2014 in LPA No. 511 of 2009 by which the said Special Leave Petition has been dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. However, as observed by the writ Court, there seems to be a distinction on facts in the present case. 13. Having thus considered every aspect of the matter, we are not inclined to entertain this interlocutory application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act and, accordingly, I.A. No. 7344 of 2019 is dismissed. L.P.A. No. 511 of 2019 14. Consequent upon dismissal of I.A. No. 7344 of 2019, L.P.A. No. 511 of 2019 is dismissed. 15. I.A. No. 7342 of 2019 filed for leave to appeal and I.A. No. 7343 of 2019 filed for stay of proceedings stand closed. (Shree Chandrashekhar, J.) Sunil/ (Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, J.)