PRIYAMBADA SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has filed the present writ application for a direction to the respondent -State of Bihar and the Director, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (hereinafter referred to as 'the Institute ') to accept her joining on the post of Administrative Officer in pursuance of appointment letter issued by the Director of the Institute on 22.8.1997, and for holding that the appointment on the post in the Institute can be made only on the basis of selection through open advertisement as per Rule 7 of the Indira Gandhi Sansthan Niyamawali, 1984, published vide notification no. 16.4.1984 (for short 'the Rules ').

(2.) THE facts of this case lie in a narrow compass. On 2.7.1997, an advertisement was issued in the English daily newspaper, namely, Hindustan Times, for appointment to various posts including the post of Administrative Officer in the said Institute by direct recruitment. A copy of the advertisement has been annexed as Annexure 1. The petitioner and other candidates applied for the post of Administrative Officer, for which the prescribed qualification was M.B.A./P.G. Dip. in personnel Management and experience of three years on the administrative side in reputed company or the Government, or Public Sector. The petitioner having a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management obtained in 1990, a certificate issued to her by the Labour Commissioner, Bihar, as per Rule 4(c) of the Bihar Factory Welfare Officer Rules, 1952 having experience from 01.01.1992 to 31.12.1996 as Administrative Officer in Netra Jayti Sava Mandaram Veerangatan, Rajgir, applied for the said post. She was called for the written test and interview, which was fixed on 22.8.1997 and she appeared in the written test and interview and, thereafter, she was appointed on the said post by order dated 22.8.1997. A copy of the appointment letter has been annexed as Annexure 3. In pursuance of the said appointment letter, she submitted her joining but the same was not accepted.

(3.) THE petitioner challenged the aforesaid judgment by filing L.P.A.No.1258 of 1997, which was finally disposed of by a Division Bench of this court on 18.5.1998 vide Annexure 6 to the writ application. Before the Division Bench, it was argued that the State Government has framed Rules in 1984 dealing with the matter of appointment, according to which all the posts in the Institute have to be filled up by direct recruitment and the said Rules have not been amended and as such the learned Single Judge was not justified in quashing the advertisement on the basis of the executive instruction, which cannot amend or modify the Rules dealing with the mode of appointment. The Division Bench disposed of the appeal with observation that the petitioner might approach the writ court apprising it with the aforesaid fact. The petitioner, thereafter, filed Civil Review No. 152 of 1998 before the learned Single Judge, which was withdrawn on 27.11.1998 with a liberty to agitate the question left over by the Division Bench in an appropriate proceeding before a writ court. Thereafter, the petitioner filed the present writ application, which was placed before a learned Single Judge, who by order dated 15.3.2000, referred the same to the Division Bench and that is how the matter has been placed before us.