AKHILESHWAR PRASAD Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner initially filed this writ application for grant of promotion to the post of Executive Engineer in the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sheikhpura, Patna. During the pendency of this writ application, the Petitioner was promoted vide Annexure-13 as an Executive Engineer with effect from 1.10.2005. The prayer of the Petitioner now is that the period for which he was working on officiating basis as an Executive Engineer i.e. 12.1.2000 should be treated as the date of regular promotion and he should be given the financial benefits and the seniority which is due to him, although there is no direct prayer in the writ application/interlocutory application for grant of seniority.

(2.) The proposition for treating the period of officiating basis as the period of regular promotion is covered by the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Secretary-cum-Chief Engineer v. Hari Om Sharma and Ors., 1998 5 SCC 87, which has been followed by a decision of this Court in the case of Lakshmi Prasad Sahu v. State of Bihar and Ors.,2007 Supp1 PLJR 413 as well as Virendra Kumar Shrivastava v. The State of Bihar and Ors., 2005 4 PLJR 393. In the cases aforesaid, the Courts have held that the pay of promotional post cannot be denied even if the promotion is an officiating or stop-gap arrangement. If a person is promoted to the higher post or asked to officiate on that post, he cannot be denied the benefit of salary or other attendant benefits, if it is otherwise admitted that he is entitled to the said promotion. In the present case, after the Petitioner got his regular promotion, he filed a representation before the Board of Governors that he should get the financial benefit for working on officiating basis, the prayer of the Petitioner was rejected vide the resolution of the Board of Governors contained in Annexure-15 to the interlocutory application filed in this case. In view of the judgments aforesaid, the Board of Governors ought to have given the financial benefits to the Petitioner.

(3.) I, therefore, direct that Respondent No. 3, the Director of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sheikhpura, Patna may bring the matter to the attention of the Board of Governors of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, who will consider the judgments of the Courts quoted above and accordingly grant benefit to which the Petitioner is entitled from the date on which he was working on officiating basis. The Board of Governors will also consider the seniority of the Petitioner on the basis of the fact that he has been promoted as Executive Engineer in accordance with law. The said decision should be taken by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences within a period of four months from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order.