ANAND KUMAR Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the Petitioner seeking the relief by way of quashing of the office order dated 16.1.2007(Annexure 7) whereby the claim of the Petitioner for payment of salary for the period from 29.11.2003 to 7.1.2004 and 13.2.2004 to 31.5.2004 which were sanctioned by the Respondent as an extraordinary leave under the provisions of Rule 180(B) of the Bihar Service Code and for issuance of direction to the Respondents to make payment of arrears of salary for the aforesaid periods.

(2.) Facts of the case in a nutshell is that the Petitioner had been working as the Range Officer, Garalu Depot Range, Monghyr Division, and at that time, some misconduct was allegedly committed by the Petitioner pursuant to which he was put under suspension which was ultimately revoked. Thereafter, the Petitioner was transferred in the year 2004 to the State of Jharkhand as the range officer and the Petitioner was finally allocated to the State of Jharkhand and he joined the State of Jharkhand in 2004 itself. Thus, the Petitioner had been a permanent employee of the State of Jharkhand. After allocation, the successor State of Bihar passed an order on 16.1.2007 wherein the Petitioner was allowed from 29.11.2003 to 7.1.2004, and from 13.2.2004 to 31.5.2004 extraordinary leave under the provisions of Rule 180(b) of the Bihar Service Code. The said order was passed consequent upon his absence from duty to join at Monghyr/Jamui (under the jurisdiction of Division Forest Officer Jamui) where he was refused to join which was reported to the Conservator of Forest, Bhagalpur. Feeling aggrieved by the said order, the present writ petition has been filed by the Petitioner.

(3.) The moot question which arises for consideration is whether the order contained in annexure 7 dated 16.1.2007 passed by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Bihar for treating his period as absence on extraordinary leave under the provisions of Rule 180(b) of the Bihar Service Code is within the jurisdiction of the said officer of the State of Bihar.