HARING NATH DWIVEDI Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the accompanied writ application, the petitioner has, inter alia, prayed for quashing the Notification contained in Memo dated 29.06.2007, whereby the services of the petitioner have been reallocated to the State of Bihar with the condition that he cannot claim his seniority in the cadre on the basis of the mutual transfer of cadre with the Respondent No. 10 being contrary to the letter dated 21.05.2005, issued by the respondents and has further prayed for direction to the respondents not to give effect of the Notification issued on 29.06.2007 till disposal of the writ application so far as it relates to petitioner and the respondent no. 10.

(2.) Sans details, the facts as averred in the writ application, is that in pursuance to the Advertisement published by the Bihar Public Service Commission in the year 1990 for the post of the District Fishery Officer, the petitioner being selected, was appointed on the said post. In the year 2000, the petitioner along with other eligible persons were considered for promotion and accordingly, he was promoted to the post of the Deputy Director, Fishery. In view of the Bihar Re-organization Act, 2000, the petitioner has been finally allocated to the State of Jharkhand, hence, the petitioner put his joining in the State of Jharkhand in July, 2006. Since then, he has been working as Deputy Director, Fishery and while continuing, as such, the petitioner as well as the respondent no. 10 applied for mutual transfer of the cadre vide Annexure-1 to the writ petition. Since the petitioner, after going through the letter dated 21.05.2005 as contained in Annexure-2, was under the impression that in case of mutual transfer, his seniority would not be affected, but, after coming to know about losing seniority, the petitioner filed one application vide letter dated 14.06.2007 before the respondents through proper channel regarding withdrawal of his consent, which was given earlier on the application dated 27.07.2006, as evident from Annexure-4 to the writ petition. A Notification dated 29.06.2007 was issued, whereby the services of the petitioner has been re-allocated to the State of Bihar and the services of the respondent no. 10 has been reallocated to the State of Jharkhand as per the Annexure-6 to the writ petition.

(3.) Learned senior counsel for the petitioner has submitted with vehemence that the respondents while issuing the impugned Notification dated 29.06.2007, have not taken into account that while giving consent for mutual transfer of the cadre, there was no any condition with regard to loss of seniority, therefore, the impugned Notification is contrary to the letter dated 21.05.2005, hence not sustainable in the eyes of law. Learned senior counsel further submits that the respondents while issuing the impugned Notification dated 29.06.2007 have not taken into consideration the application of the petitioner dated 14.06.2007 with regard to withdrawal of his consent in terms of the order issued by the respondents dated 14.02.2007, whereby the petitioner came to know that in case of mutual transfer of the cadre, he cannot claim seniority. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner during course of hearing has referred to the Notification dated 22.06.2013 (Annexure-15) and the Notification dated 30.06.2014 (Annexure-16) of I.A. No. 3808 of 2014, wherein the name of the petitioner has been placed at Serial No. 1 and the name of the respondent no. 10 has been placed at Serial No. Learned senior counsel has also referred to the seniority list of the State of Jharkhand, dated 26.02.2014, wherein, the name of the petitioner and the name of the respondent no. 10 have been placed at Serial nos. 1 and 3 respectively. Again the learned senior counsel for the petitioner has drawn the attention of the Court to the notification dated 16.04.2012 (Annexure-18) pertaining to placement of the petitioner and the respondent no. 10 and also Annexure-19, dated 107.2013 pertaining to pay fixation. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner has also referred to Annexure-20 of the said interlocutory application, where the State of Jharkhand vide letter dated 16.01.2012, has intimated the State of Bihar, the reasons for the continuance of the petitioner in the State of Jharkhand. Learned senior counsel has also referred to the Departmental Promotion Committee held on 01.07.2014 (Annexure-23 of the I.A. No. 6286 of 2014), when the case of the petitioner is within the zone of consideration. Learned senior counsel has also referred to the Memo dated 29.06.2010 (Annexure-28 of the supplementary affidavit dated 17.12.2014), where the 31.08.2010 was the cut off date for inter-State transfer. Learned senior counsel by referring to the aforesaid documents has strenuously urged that the petitioner is entitled to the reliefs sought for in the writ application.