JYOTIPRABHA NAYAK Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Prayers of the petitioner in this writ petition are to set aside the order of reinstatement passed in favour of opp.party No. 6, to direct the opp.party No. 6 to refund the amount of arrear salary drawn by him for the period he was not in service and to allow the petitioner to discharge the duties of the Head of the Department of the Discipline of Logic and Philosophy.

(2.) This case has a chequered history. According to the petitioner, she was appointed as a Lecturer in Logic and Philosophy on regular basis in D.R. College, Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar on 06.12.1993 under Annexure-1. Prior to this, she was working in the same post on adhoc basis in that College since July, 1993. The opp.party No. 6 who had been serving as Lecturer in the same subject in the said College was terminated by the Governing Body on 15.05.1993 under Annexure-2. Being aggrieved by the order of termination, Opposite Party No. 6 had filed appeal before the Director of Higher Education, Orissa. Opposite party No. 6 also challenged the said order of termination before this Court in O.J.C. No. 4958 of 1993. This Court on 23.08.1993 disposed of the said writ petition by directing the Director, Higher Education (O.P. No. 2) to dispose of the appeal, if pending, preferably within a period of three months from the date of receipt of that order. The said appeal was dismissed by the D.P.I. as per Annexure-3. Being dissatisfied with the said dismissal order, opp.party No. 6 filed another writ petition bearing O.J.C. No. 5157 of 1994 before this Court. The said writ petition was dismissed on 05.03.1999 vide Annexure-4. While the matter stood thus, on 06.12.2000, opp.party No. 6 started working as a Lecturer in Logic and Philosophy and some days thereafter he worked as Head of the Department of the said discipline. The petitioner came to know from the Principal of the College that he was directed by the Deputy Director (Scholarship) and Special Officer to allow opp.party No. 6 to work in the College. Despite several requests, the petitioner was not supplied with the order of reinstatement of opp.party No. 6 against the said post. Hence, this writ petition.

(3.) Mr. M.R. Mishra, learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the order dated 05.03.1999 passed by this Court in O.J.C. No. 5157 of 1994 has attained its finality being not challenged either by opp.party No. 6 or any other opp.party. Petitioner is the senior most Lecturer in the Discipline and had also functioned as Head of the Department in the particular discipline. Since the petitioner was neither made a party to the appeal filed before the Director, Higher Education nor to the writ petition filed before this Court, she could not be able to know the actual position of the matter. It is submitted that fraud has been practiced in the matter at different levels in order to secure the job to opp.party No. 6. Illegal financial benefits have been given to opp.party No. 6. There is no such order by any authority directing reinstatement of opp.party No. 6 in service. Even if there is any such order, the same might be passed without any jurisdiction. Since the services of opp.party No. 6 had been terminated and the order of termination was made final, his reinstatement in the former post he held is illegal. The petitioner being the senior most Lecturer in the Department was allowed to function as Head of the Department. The D.R. College has become an aided educational institution with effect from 01.06.1994 within the meaning of Section 3(b) of Orissa Education Act, 1969. Allowing opp.party No. 6 to continue to work as lecturer in the said post by suppressing the legitimate claim of the petitioner is discriminatory and without any authority of law.