A K BASAK Vs. BISHWANATH PRASAD PANDEY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) There are two Letters Patent Appeals, one is by the State of Bihar and other is by the Officers who are party respondents in the writ petition. The writ petition is CWJC No. 7644 of 1995. It was decided on 15-11-1996.

(2.) The State of Bihar challenges the merit of the decision. The other set of respondents who have filed the Letters' Patent Appeal are officers of the State but have done so in their personal capacity, as they are aggrieved by costs which has been awarded by the learned Judge against each of them @ 1000/- each. The total cost is Rs. 5,000/-.

(3.) The issue in the writ petition was not as fresh that it was brought in 1996 for the first time. The petitioner Bishwanath Prasad Pandey was claiming his promotion and in fact had to come to the High Court on three occasions. These cases were CWJC No. 7076 of 1994, MJC No. 735 of 1995 (this was a contempt case) and CWJC No. 7644 of 1995 i.e. the writ petition against the decision on which the present Letter Patent Appeal arises. There is a fourth case. This is CWJC No. 233 of 1999 in which another State employee had desired an exercise, claiming seniority consequentially regarding promotion. In this case the seniority of the petitioner Bishwanath Prasad Pandey's was also reckoned. Regarding, petitioner Bishwanath Prasad Pandey, seniority was checked and re-checked virtually four times. The decision of the learned Judge, in effect, is that the State respondents applied two standards to reckon seniority and they did so as it suited the administration. This aspect is noticed in paragraph 7 of the judgment.