Orissa High Court
Case Details
ORISSA HIGH COURT: CUTTACK W.A. NO. 1498 of 2022 with W.A. Nos.1479, 1480, 1481, 1482, 1483, 1484, 1485, 1486, 1487, 1492, 1493, 1495, 1496, 1497, 1531, 1534, 1535, 1536, 1537, 1538, 1539, 1540, 1541, 1543, 1544, 1545, 1548, 1549, 1550, 1551, 1552, 1553, 1555, 1556, 1560, 1561, 1562, 1563, 1564, 1565, 1566, 1568, 1569 and 1570 of 2022 and W.A. No. 219 of 2023 In the matter of appeals under Section 10 of Letter Patent of Patna High Court read with Article 4 of Orissa High Court Order, 1948. --------------- AFR W.A. No.1498 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Samala Pandu Ranga Rao and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Sr. Adv. B. Routray, Sr. Adv. along with A.A. Mishra, Adv. For Respondent : Mr. Sameer Kumar Das, Advocate W.A. No.1479 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another Page 1 of 31 -Versus- Madhusudan Naik & Another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate & SD.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : Mr. Sameer Kumar Das and N. Jena, Advocate W.A. No.1480 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Niranjan Sahoo ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate & SD.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : Mr. Sameer Kumar Das and N. Jena, Advocate W.A. No.1481 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Kartik Chandra Mohanty and another ….. Respondents Page 2 of 31 For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate & SD.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : Mr. Sameer Kumar Das and B.K. Behera, Advocate W.A. No.1482 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Pradeep Kumar Singh and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate & SD.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Seetaram Jena, & B.K. Behera, Advocates W.A. No.1483 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Arun Kumar Deb and another ….. Respondents For Appellant
Legal Reasoning
: M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate & SD.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sisir Das, & S. Das, Advocates Page 3 of 31 W.A. No.1484 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Hemanta Kumar Paul and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate & SD.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : Mr. Subir Palit, Senior Advocate W.A. No.1485 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Bishnu Charan Das and another …..Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate & SD.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sisir Das & S. Das, Advocates W.A. No.1486 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Page 4 of 31 Kumudini Jee and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate & SD.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. A.K. Mohanty, S. Das, S.R. Mohapatra & S. Das, Advocates W.A. No.1487 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Sakuntala Mohanty and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate & SD.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sisir Das & S. Das, Advocates W.A. No.1492 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Asis Biswas and another ….. Respondents Page 5 of 31 For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A.A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : Mr. Sameer Kumar Das, Advocate W.A. No.1493 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- K. Krishna Rao and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Prakash Ranjan Barik, S. Priyadarshini & A. Dash, Advocates W.A. No.1495 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- K. Sitarama Murty and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Prakash Ranjan Barik, S. Priyadarshini & A. Dash, Advocates Page 6 of 31 W.A. No.1496 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Daitari Sahoo and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sisir Das & S. Das, Advocates W.A. No.1497 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Kallipalli Subhadra and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Prakash Ranjan Barik, S. Priyadarshini & A. Dash, Advocates W.A. No.1531 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Page 7 of 31 Alice Singh ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent: M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1534 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Prasanna Kumar Dash ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent: M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1535 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Dipendra Narayan Ghosh ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates Page 8 of 31 For Respondent : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1536 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Pramod Chandra Nayak ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent: M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1537 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Kishore Chandra Mohanty ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : None W.A. No.1538 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another Page 9 of 31 -Versus- Gopal Behera & Another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1539 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Urmila Kanungo & Another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1540 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Natabar Sahu & another ….. Respondents Page 10 of 31 For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1541 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Ganapati Behera ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1543 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Brajasundar Das & another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates Page 11 of 31 W.A. No.1544 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Biranchi Narayan Mishra and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1545 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Gopal Chandra Barik and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1548 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Page 12 of 31 Manju Prava Singh ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent: M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1549 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Shankar Prasad Das and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : None W.A. No.1550 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Brahmananda Kar and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : None Page 13 of 31 W.A. No.1551 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Baidyanath Rout ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1552 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Prabhat Chandra Pratihari ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1553 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Page 14 of 31 Ashok Kumar Das and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1555 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Raghu Kheti and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : None W.A. No.1556 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Ptambar Parida ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates Page 15 of 31 W.A. No.1560 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Mohammed Iqbal ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : M/s. K.C. Sahu, S, Pradhan and D.K. Mahalik, Advocates W.A. No.1561 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Kelu Charan Mohanty ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1562 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Gopal Chandra Rao ….. Respondent Page 16 of 31 For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1563 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Ramesh Chandra Tripathy ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocate W.A. No.1564 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Nityananda Sutar ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates Page 17 of 31 W.A. No.1565 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Abdul Hanan Khan and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1566 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Kelu Charan Singh ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : None W.A. No.1568 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Page 18 of 31 Pradip Kumar Chouhan ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondent : None W.A. No.1569 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Sudam Chandra Sahani ….. Respondent For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : M/s. Sameer Kumar Das, & N. Jena, Advocates W.A. No.1570 of 2022 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Inaprava Kanungo and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : None Page 19 of 31 W.A. No.219 of 2023 Board of Secondary Education, Odisha ..… Appellants and another -Versus- Bijay Kumar Kar and another ….. Respondents For Appellant : M/s S.S. Rao, Senior Advocate, A. A. Mishra & S.E. Haque, Advocates For Respondents : None P R E S E N T: THE HONOURABLE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE DR. B.R.SARANGI AND THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE MURAHARI SRI RAMAN Date of hearing and Judgment : 12.10.2023 DR. B.R. SARANGI, J. Board of Secondary Education, Odisha and its functionaries have filed all these appeals against the common judgment and order dated 26.09.2022 passed in W.P.(C) No. 29717 of 2021 and batch, by which
Decision
the learned Single Judge has allowed all the writ petitions extending the benefit to the employees-respondents. Page 20 of 31 2. Since all these appeals arise out of a common judgment and involve an identical issue, they are taken up together for hearing and disposed of by this common judgment. 3. For the sake of convenience and better appreciation, the factual matrix, as delineated in W.A. No.1498 of 2022, has been succinctly referred to. Respondent no.1, being an employee under the appellants, filed W.P.(C) No. 29717 of 2021 before this Court seeking direction for grant of pension and other retiral benefits up to the service rendered by him till the age of 58 years, instead of his actual serving period which is up to 60 years. He further sought direction from this Court to the appellants to revise his pension and other pensionary benefits including gratuity by calculating his entire qualifying service for the purpose, which is up to 60 years of age, and to pay the differential arrears within a stipulated period, as his claim is squarely covered by the ratio decided by this Court in Golekh Chandra Rath v. Page 21 of 31 State of Odisha, W.P.(C) No.13035 of 2019 disposed of on 07.11.2019 and the order passed by this Court in State of Odisha v. Golekh Chandra Rath, W.A. No.509 of 2019 and batch disposed of on 03.12.2020. As such, the said judgment and orders were challenged by the appellants before the apex Court by filing SLP (C) Nos. 3555-3604 of 2021 (Board of Secondary Education, Odisha v. Golak Chandra Rath & another etc.), which were dismissed vide order dated 02.03.2021. Thereby, the respondent no.1, who stands on the similar footing, claimed that similar benefits should be extended to him. After due adjudication, learned Single Judge disposed of the said writ petition, along with other batch of writ petitions, vide judgment dated 26.09.2022, by extending the benefit to respondent no.1, which is the subject- matter of challenge in these appeals. 4. Mr. B. Routray, learned Senior Counsel appearing along with Mr. J. Biswal, learned counsel and Mr. S.S. Rao, learned Senior Counsel appearing along Page 22 of 31 with Mr. A.A. Mishra, learned counsel appearing for the appellants-Board of Secondary Education, Odisha, by reiterating the contentions which have already been decided by this Court and affirmed by the apex Court, further contended that there are some writ petitions where delay had been caused in approaching this Court and, thereby, the petitioners therein are not entitled to get the benefits, as have been granted to the similarly situated employees. Thereby, it is contended that those writ petitions should have been dismissed on the ground of delay and laches and the learned Single Judge having not done so, interference of this Court is called for. 4. Mr. S.K. Das, learned counsel appearing for the respondent-employees vehemently contended that so far as challenge to vires of the provisions contained in Regulation-21 of the Board of Secondary Education, Odisha (Amendment) Regulations, 1997 is concerned, the same has already reached its finality with the dismissal of the SLP preferred by the appellants. He also brings to the Page 23 of 31 notice of the Court the judgment passed by this Court in Parsuram Behera v. President, Board of Secondary Education, Orissa, 109 (2010) CLT 673, where the validity of the provisions contained in Regulation-21 was under challenge and this Court allowed the said writ petition by granting the benefit to the petitioner therein up to the age of superannuation, i.e., 60 years. As such, the said judgment of this Court has not been challenged before any higher forum and the same has reached its finality and the petitioner therein has already been extended with the benefit. Thereafter, one Chakradhar Behera had approached this Court by filing W.P.(C) No. 15855 of 2006, which was allowed by this Court, vide order dated 20.04.2010, by directing the appellants to pay the pensionary benefits treating the qualifying service rendered by him. It is further contended that relying upon the judgment and order passed by this Court in Parsuram Behera and Chakradhar Behera (supra), a Single Bench of this Court, which was presided over by one of us (Dr. B.R. Sarangi, ACJ), vide order dated Page 24 of 31 07.11.2019 passed in W.P.(C) No.13035 of 2019, had granted the selfsame relief. Challenging the aforesaid order passed by the learned Single Judge, the appellants had preferred writ appeal bearing W.A. No. 509 of 2019, which was adjudicated, along with other batch of writ appeal, by the Division Bench of this Court and vide order dated 03.12.2020 the Division Bench of this Court confirmed the order passed by the learned Single Judge, holding that there is no error apparent on the face of the orders to be interfered with. Challenging the said orders, the present appellants preferred SLP (C) Nos. 3555-3604 of 2021, but the apex Court dismissed those SLPs vide order dated 02.03.2021. Thereby, the orders of this Court having reached their finality, now, by way of present appeals, the appellants cannot be permitted to re-open the issues once again, which have been already settled by the apex Court. It is further contended that the question with regard to delay and laches, which has been raised by the learned counsel appearing for the appellants, was also raised before the apex Court in the pleadings of the SLPs, Page 25 of 31 but the apex Court did not entertain such plea. Thereby, the appellants are precluded to raise such question before this Court while advancing the argument in the present appeals. As such, the learned Single Judge, while passing the order impugned, had also taken into consideration all these aspects. Thereby, the impugned judgment and order so passed by the learned Single Judge is well justified, which does not warrant any interference by this Court at this stage. 5. This Court heard Mr. B. Routray, learned Senior Counsel appearing along with Mr. J. Biswal, learned counsel appearing for the appellants-Board of Secondary Education, Odisha and others in some of the writ appeals, as well as Mr. S.S. Rao, learned Senior Counsel appearing along with Mr. A.A. Mishra, learned counsel appearing for the selfsame appellants in some other writ appeals. This Court also heard learned counsels Mr. S.K. Das, Ms. Sradha Das, Mr. P.R. Barik, Mr. K.C. Sahoo, Mr S. Palit (learned Sr. Advocate Page 26 of 31 appearing along with learned counsel Mr. A. Pradhan) and Mr. P.K. Singh, appearing for respondent-employees in their respective writ appeals. Since pleadings have been exchanged between the parties, the writ appeals are disposed of finally with the consent of learned counsel for the parties at the stage of admission. 6. There is no dispute before this Court that challenging the provisions contained in Regulation-21 of the Board of Secondary Education Odisha (Amendment) Regulations, 1997, one Parsuram Behera had approached this Court by filing a writ petition, which was allowed by this Court vide judgment dated 20.04.2010 and, as such, the said judgment dated 20.04.2010 was not assailed or challenged before the higher forum by the appellants- Board of Secondary Education, Odisha. Subsequently, one Chakradhar Behera had also approached this Court by filing W.P.(C) No.15855 of 2006, which was also disposed of, vide order dated 20.04.2010, directing the appellants to pay the pensionary benefits to him. In any Page 27 of 31 case, referring to the judgment and orders passed in Parsuram Behera and Chakradhar Behera (supra), this Court disposed of W.P.(C) No.13035 of 2019, vide order dated 07.11.2019, which was challenged by the appellants by filing W.A. No. 509 of 2019, which was heard, along with other batch of writ appeals, and dismissed by the Division Bench of this Court, vide order dated 03.12.2020, by confirming the judgment and order passed by the learned Single Judge. More so, the Division Bench of this Court held that the learned Single Judge has rightly passed the orders and there is no error apparent on the face of such orders to be interfered with by this Court. Aggrieved by the order dated 03.12.2020 passed in W.A. No. 509 of 2019 and batch, the appellants approached the apex Court by preferring SLP (C) Nos. 3555-3604 of 2021 and the apex Court, vide order dated 02.03.2021, dismissed the same by following the judgment rendered in the case of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology v. Shiva Dutta Sharma (Civil Appeal Nos.1225 and 1226 of 2008 decided on Page 28 of 31 19.04.2017). Thereby, by virtue of the dismissal of the SLPs preferred by the appellants so far as the claim of the employees are concerned, that has reached its finality so also the validity of the provisions contained under Regulation-21 of the Board of Secondary Education Odisha (Amendment) Regulations, 1997 has also been confirmed. As regards the question of delay, which is raised at this point of time, the same was also raised before the apex Court, while preferring SLPs by the appellants, but the apex Court did not interfere with the same. Thereby, in these batch of writ appeals, those writ appeals, which are filed against the writ petitions filed by the employees of the appellants even at a belated stage, cannot be allowed by dismissing their writ petitions on the ground of delay and laches, as the said question is no more res integra in view of dismissal of the SLPs, as referred to above, by the apex Court. Page 29 of 31 7. Furthermore, a perusal of the impugned judgment and order passed by the learned Single Judge would indicate that the learned Single Judge has taken note of the judgments passed by this Court in the cases of Parsuram Behera and Chakradhar Behera (supra) so also the provisions contained in Regulation-21 of the Board of Secondary Education Odisha (Amendment) Regulations, 1997 and also taken note of the judgment and order dated 07.11.2019 passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) No. 13035 of 2019, confirmed by the Division Bench of this Court vide order dated 03.12.2020 passed in W.A. No. 509 of 2019 and affirmed by the apex Court in SLP(C) Nos. 3555-3604 of 2021 by order dated 02.03.2021 and has come to a conclusion that the respondent-employees are entitled to get the benefits in accordance with law. Thereby, this Court is not inclined to re-open the issue once again by the able persuasion made by learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellants-Board of Secondary Education, Odisha to unsettle the settled position. Rather this Court is of the Page 30 of 31 considered opinion that a right has already been accrued in favour of the respondent-employees and that it is a continuing cause of action. Thereby, question of delay and laches will not stand on the way of the respondent- employees to get their benefits. 8. In the above view of the matter, this Court is not inclined to interfere with the impugned common judgment and order dated 26.09.2022 passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) No. 29717 of 2021 and batch. Thus, the writ appeals preferred by the appellants merit no consideration and the same are hereby dismissed. However, there shall be no order as to costs. …………….…………..…. DR. B.R. SARANGI, ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE M.S. RAMAN, J. I agree. …………….…………..…. M.S. RAMAN, JUDGE Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: ASHOK KUMAR JAGADEB MOHAPATRA Designation: Personal Assistant Reason: Authentication Location: HIGH COURT OF ORISSA Date: 16-Oct-2023 17:31:45 Orissa High Court, Cuttack The 12th October, 2023, Ashok/MRS Page 31 of 31