ALI ANSARI Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD Shri Ganesh Prasad Singh, learned senior advocate for the petitioner and Shri S.K. Ghosh, learned Additional Advocate General No. 2 for the State of Bihar.

(2.) WRIT petitioner, was appointed as an. assistant in the Public Health Engineering Department on 19.6.1980 after he became successful in the Secretariat Assistant Com -bined Examination held in 1979 has filed this writ application for a direction to the State -respondents to grant him promotion in the junior selection grade with effect from 21.6.1988 the date on which his junior, namely, Shri Madan Mohan Prasad was granted the said promotion, as accord ing to the petitioner, he cleared the departmental examination within four attempts as was required in the resolution of the State Government bearing memo No. 1447 dated 21.12.1978, annexure -2. it is averred in the writ application that after his appointment the petitioner appeared in the departmental examination for the first time in the year 1983 and in that attempt he could pass only in second and third paper. Petitioner cleared the first paper in the year 1995 whereafter he was declared to have passed the examination under memo No. 271 dated 19.4.1996, annexure -5. As he had not cleared the departmental examination earlier he could not be considered for promotion in the junior selection grade although his three juniors, namely, M/s Binod Kumar Verma, Madan Mohan Prasad and Deo Brat Sinha were allowed promotion in the Junior selection grade vide menu 29.6.1988, annexure -6, as those three juniors had already passed the departments. examination clearing all the three papers: on or before 29.6.1988.

(3.) ON the other hand, Shri S.K. Ghosh, learned Additional Advocate General appearing for the State, with reference to the counter -affidavit and the supplementary -affidavit, submitted that, in view of the resolution of the State Government dated 30.8.1988 annexure -A, and the provisions of the Bihar Act 9 of 1989 whereunder the cadres of the assistant appointed in the different departments in the Secretariat merged into an unified cadre, the resolution dated 21.12.1978, annexure -2, has become redundant and the petitioner having become junior to his erstwhile juniors can - not claim seniority over them. He further contended that in terms of the provisions contained in proviso to section 3. of Bihar Act 9 of 1989, petitioner cannot claim any retrospective promotion.