PRABHAKAR MAHTO Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present facts are stranger than fiction. This Court has reason to observe so from the pleading of the petitioner itself and what has emerged from the counter affidavit of the University. The manner, in which the Higher Education has been imparted and the way the Teachers of the University have functioned, has already been noticed by this Court in various litigations as also commented upon in various orders. Even the present case is one of those cases where the Court cannot hold itself back from recording its Opinion the manner in which the affairs of the University have been conducted. Petitioners were senior Teachers in different Departments at A.N.D. College, Shahpur Patory in the district of Samastipur. They have now retired. They have approached the Court because the respondent authorities of L.N. Mithila University are not willing to give them the benefit of financial kind for 131 days of unutilized earned leave which the petitioners claim they are entitled to by engaging in extra classes.

(2.) The brief background is that the University Teachers went on a prolonged strike of 131 days, between 1st August, 2000 to 10th December, 2000. This virtually works out to four months of strike. After the strike was called off, the Government took a strict view of the matter. Only way this period of strike could be adjusted was if the Teaches of the University had adequate earned leave against their account or at the most, if they could take extra classes and satisfy the authority about holding of such extra classes to cover up the loss.

(3.) In CWJC No. 6241 of 2013 as well as other writs, a blanket piece of certification has been obtained from the Principal of the College in question saying that the petitioners had taken extra classes. This, according to the petitioners, entitles them for 131 days of earned leave.