NAND KISHORE RAM Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and the State.

(2.) The petitioners are stated to be District Programme Officers employed in the Bihar Education Service posted at Samastipur. They are aggrieved by the order dated 15.2.2012 of the Regional Deputy Director of Education calling for immediate report by special messenger for allocation of alternative duties to the petitioners.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that their administrative authority is the District Education Officer who alone is competent to allot duties to them. The impugned order is not bona fide in the interest of work but is propelled by developments that took place at a District Level meeting chaired by the District Magistrate on 15.2.2012. The Officers walked out enmasse in protest against the unsavory conduct of the District Magistrate. The joint representation submitted inter alia before the Chief Secretary of the State at Annexure-4, amply reflects what transpired. The impugned order has been issued in that background. Even if the Regional Deputy Director of Education is an officer superior in rank to the District Education Officer, the recitals in the order make it manifest that it is not issued by independent application of mind by the Education Department, but at the behest of the District Magistrate. The order is quite simply bad for abdication of jurisdiction. The haste displayed in calling for a report, the same day by a special messenger is sufficient indication and reflection that it is the result of the ire of the District Magistrate and not any administrative need.