KALICHARAN RATH Vs. ORISSA SANGEET NATAK ACADEMY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has approached this Court assailing his reversion to the office of opposite party No. 1 as an L. D. Assistant while he was holding the post of the Administrative Officer of the Orissa Chhou Dance Training Centre at Baripada and instead giving of appointment to one Kasinath Batik in his place. The petitioner has claimed the reliefs of his appointment to the post of the Administrative Officer and to treat him as continuing in the post with all other benefits that go with it.

(2.) THE facts briefly stated are that the Orissa Sangeet Natak Academy which is a Government sponsored organisation and is not disputed to be an instrumentality and agency of the State has a Chhou Dance Training Centre at Baripada. The post of the Administrative Officer of the Centre having fallen vacant, an advertisement was issued on 5th May 1979 inviting applications to fill up the post. In the advertisement the qualifications prescribed were (a) General educational qualification up to Intermediate in Arts, and (b) Degree in Music, Dance and Drama, and preference to be given to graduates with experience on the subject. Though twentyfive applications were received in pursuance of the advertisement, yet none were found suitable by the Selection Committee and thereafter one Ramesh Chandra Mohapatra, who was associated with Chhou Dance at Mayurbhanj, was given temporary appointment for one year. After completion of one year, Shri Mohapatra expressed his inability to continue in the post due to his old age and other difficulties. Since the post needed to be filled up, a letter was addressed on 30th January 1981 by opposite party No. 1 to the Collector, Mayurbhanj to suggest a name or a panel of names for appointment to the post. The Collector forwarded a panel of three names with the name of one Kasinath Barik at the top on 13th March 1981. However, in the meantime the petitioner, who was holding the post of an L. D. Assistant in the Academy, put in an application offering his candidature for the post saying that he was qualified to hold the same. An order of appointment was issued in his favour on 18th April 1981 for a period of six months from the date he actually joined with the rider that his work would be reviewed after three months. The petitioner joined the post on 20th of April, 1981 and thereafter there were some notes put up by the office to review his performance at the end of three months, but no express review was made and his service was extended on 8th September 1981 for three months. Again the service was extended for further spells of three months on 21st January 1982 and 23rd April 1982. A meeting of the Executive Board of opposite party No. 1 was held on 13th July 1982 and continuance of the petitioner in the post was one of the matters in the agenda for discussion. Annexure-4 is the note on the agenda of the Secretary of the Academy wherein it was recorded that the petitioner was a B. Sc. , LL. B. and that till then his performance had been satisfactory and that the Executive Board should decide as to whether his term of appointment should be extended and if not, what steps should be taken to fill up the post. Even though there was thus a recommendation in favour of the petitioner, yet suddenly he was directed on 2nd September 1982 to keep the records ready to hand over charge to Sri Kasinath Barik. He received the order of reversion on 15th September 1982 pursuant to which he handed over charge to Sri Barik on 1st October 1982 and joined in the head office as an L. D. Assistant on 11th October 1982. He was promoted as Junior Accountant on 21st September 1983. He was relieved from service on 23rd January 1987 with effect from 1st February 1987 while he was on long leave due to sickness.

(3.) THE opposite parties filed a counter affidavit and since the petitioner filed an additional affidavit, the opposite parties have also filed another affidavit in counter. The stand taken in the counter affidavit is that the petitioner did not have the qualification as per the advertisement to hold the post and that he was never promoted to the post, but was only kept in temporary charge of it; that the matter of finalising the appointment to the post was before the Executive Board in its meeting on 28th December 1979 and in the agenda of the said meeting it was mentioned that the petitioner's performance was satisfactory; the Board had discussed the matter, considered the case of the petitioner, but found him unsuitable to hold the post and decided to appoint a person having knowledge in Chhou Dance. The appointment of Kasinath Barik as the Administrative Officer was also considered by the Board and decision was taken to appoint him as the Administrative Officer since the Collector, Mayurbhanj who was the Chairman of the Mayurbhanj Chhou Nrutya Pratisthan had recommended his case.