PREM LAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD Dr. Sadanand Jha, Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioner, Mr. Ray Shivajee Nath, Additional Advocate General No. IV appearing on behalf of the State and Mr. Sarva Deo Singh, Counsel representing the State Advisory Committee.

(2.) INITIALLY , this case was one of a batch of 16 cases. Almost all other cases of the batch were withdrawn, on different grounds, in course of hearing. Thus, in the end, this case was left to be heard on its own independent facts.

(3.) ON creation of the State of Jharkhand, the Central Government constituted the State Advisory Committee to examine individual cases and make its recommendation for allocation of services of the Government employees to the two States. The Advisory Committee issued a notice on 29.1.2001 asking all Government employees whose cases were under consideration for cadre division to give option by 20.2.2001 either to stay in this State or to go over to the State of Jharkhand. The option was required to be submitted to the respective Administrative Departments in a prescribed form. It is the case of the petitioner that he duly submitted his option for Bihar in the prescribed form in the Agriculture Department before the due date. In the tentative allocation list that came out on 19.3.2003, the petitioner was shown among those whose services were allocated to the State of Jharkhand. The petitioner was also shown as a 'non -optee ', that is to say, an employee who had not given any option either to stay in Bihar or to go to Jharkhand. Aggrieved by the allocation of his service to the State of Jharkhand and more aggrieved by being treated as non -optee, the petitioner filed his objection/representation before the Department and the State Advisory Committee.