VINOD KUMAR SINGH Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. Abhinav Srivastava, learned Advocate for the petitioners and Mr. Md. N. H. Khan, learned SC-1 for the State.

(2.) The petitioners, who are constables, have challenged the order dated 18.04.2019 passed by the Director General, Bihar Military Police, Bihar, Patna contained in Memo No. 565, whereby the prayer made on behalf of the petitioners for allowing them to remain in the literate cadre has been rejected.

(3.) It appears that the petitioners, on their exercising option for conversion from non-matriculate cadre to literate cadre were merged with the literate cadre in the year 1999. This Court has been informed that initially for the Bihar Police and the BMP, there were two cadres of Constables; one being literate cadre and the other, naturally, non-matriculate cadre. Some of the Constables who had been working in the non- matriculate cadre, had right from the beginning, the qualification of matriculation. Precisely and particularly for this reason and other impelling motive of building up the personnel in any department, an option was asked from such matriculate / literate Constables, who were serving in the non- matriculate cadre to exercise their option of being sent/inducted in the literate Constable cadre. It may also be noted that in the Police Act and Police Manual, the two cadres ultimately merge in one promotional post of Sub-Inspector of Police. However, the intermediate post is of ASI and Havildars. In the literate cadre, the intermediate post is of the ASI with higher pay-scale whereas in the non-matriculate cadre, the intermediate post is of Havildar, which though is equivalent to ASI, but with a lesser pay-scale.