BHUTKUN JHA Vs. VICE CHANCELLOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two applications have been heard together since they arise under similar circumstances and the point involved in them is the the same. They are directed against an order of the Vice-Chancellor of the Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit Vish-yavidyalaya (hereinafter referred to as the 'University'), which was communicated to the two petitioners by a separate letter addressed to them by the Registrar of the University on the 23rd October 1964. A copy of the letter is Annexure 13 to the writ application in M. J. C. No. 1638 and a copy of a similar letter is Annexure 14 to the writ application in M. J. C. No. 1639.

(2.) The Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit Vishvavidyalaya Act, 1960 (Bihar Act VI of 1960 hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') came into force on the 18th March 1960, and in pursuance of it, the University was established on the 26th January 1961 with Mahama-hopadhya Dr. Umesh Mishra as its first Vice-chancellor. Prior to the establishment of the University, Bhutkun Jha, the petitioner in M. J. C. No. 1638, was serving on a temporary basis as a stenographer in a Government Institute, known as the Mithila Institute of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning at Darbhanga thereinafter referred to as the 'Institute') and Tilkeshwar Chaudhary, petitioner in M. J. C. No. 1639, was serving in the same Institute on a temporary basis as a scribe-cum-typist. Bhutkun Jha joined the Institute on 23-12-1952 and Tilkeshwar Chaudhary joined it on 16-10-1954. On 31-3-1960, Tilkeshwar Chaudhary was also put in charge of the library of the Institute. When the University was established, the State Government sent a telegram (vide Annexure 3 in each case) to the Director of the Institute to render all possible assistance to the Vice-Chancellor until the University Office- functioned independently. In accordance with the said direction of the State Government, both the petitioners began to work as part-time assistants in the University in addition to their duties in the Institute. On the 28th January 1961, the State Government issued a notification under Section 46 of the Act for the purpose of removing certain difficulties in relation to the enforcement of the Act and to authorise the Vice-Chancellor of the University to exercise certain powers until the authorities and officers of the University were constituted and appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Act. A copy of the notification is Annexure 2 to each writ application, and it is in the following terms:

(3.) It appears that, thereafter, the Vice-Chancellor took steps for appointing clerks and other servants for the University and an advertisement was issued in the press, inviting applications for certain posts on purely temporary basis for the University Office. Such an advertisement is Annexures III A and III B to the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the State of Bihar (Respondent No. 3). In pursuance of the advertisement, both the petitioners applied for appointment under the university. Bhutkun Jha applied for the post of personal Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor and Tilkeshwar Chaudhary applied for the post of Confidential Assistant in the University. On 9-6-1961, they were both appointed by the Vice-Chancellor on a temporary basis. Tilkeshwar Chaudhary was appointed in the scale of pay of Rs. 150-8-190 EB-12-250 and Bhutkun Jha was appointed in the scale of pay of Rs. 250-10-300 EB-20-400; but they did not join their respective posts in the University until the 1st February 1963, because they entered into correspondence with the Vice-Chancellor regarding certain further facilities in regard to their conditions of service. During this interval, the petitioners also submitted two applications to the Director of the Institute. In their first application which was dated the 14th December 1962, they informed the Director that they had been offered a Job in the University which carried higher emoluments than what they were getting in the Institute and requested him to grant them leave without pay for one year with effect from the 1st January 1963. They also said in their application that in case it was not possible to accept their prayer for leave, then their application might be treated as application for resignation of their respective posts from which they might be permitted to be relieved from the said date. On the 14th December 1962 itself, the Director of the Institute forwarded their application to the Secretary to the Government of Bihar in the Education Department (Vide Annexure but no order was received from the Government upon their said application. Thereupon, on the 27th January 1963, both the petitioners submitted a second application to the Director (Vide Annexure 8) in identical terms. Therein they referred to their application dated the 14th December 1962, describing it as their "resignation petition", and to the fact that no communication had been received by them, although more than one month and a half had elapsed and their offer of appointment in the University was at a stake. So they said that if no instruction was received by them before the 1st February 1963, they would treat themselves as relieved from their service under the Institute and they would join their respective posts under the University with effect from the 1st February 1963. Both the petitioners did join their respective posts under the University on the 1st February 1963, as already stated. On the 20th of April 1963, the Director of the Institute wrote to Tilkeshwar Chaudhary calling upon him to hand over charge of the library or the Institute to the permanent incumbent to the post of the Librarian who had come to join (Vide Annexure 9 to the writ application in M. J. C. No. 1639). Subsequently, on the 7th August 1963, the Director called upon the petitioners' to vacate the quarters which they were occupying, and this was complied with by them by 1st November 1963. Meanwhile, on the 15th October 1963, both the petitioners were confirmed in their respective posts under the University under the orders of the Vice-Chancellor in the revised pay scale which was Rs. 20040-250 in the case of Tilkeshwar Choudhary and Rs. 300-10-350 in case of Bhutkun Jha (Vide Annexure 5 to the two writ applications).