BABNI DEBI Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD the counsel for the parties. The prayer made in both these writ petitions is same and similar and, therefore, they were taken up together and are being disposed of by this common order. Both the writ petitioners, i.e. Smt. Babni Debi and Smt. Shanti Devi, were employed as Female Ward Attendants in Sri Sri Laxminarayan Trust Hospital, Dhanbad (herein after called as Hospital for the sake of convenience). The said Hospital was initially being run and managed by private management but the same was taken over by the State Government on 15/12/1988. The petitioner Smt. Babni Debi, retired from the service on 31/10/1999, whereas the petitioner Smt. Shanti Devi retired from the services on 31/10/1997. According to the petitioners, they were employed in the said Hospital even prior to taking over of the said Hospital by the State Government and, therefore, in order to fix their pensionary benefits, their services rendered in the Hospital prior to its taking over should be counted. The petitioner Smt. Babni Debi claimed that her services should be counted from the date of her initial joining in the Hospital, i.e. from 01/03/1966, whereas Smt. Shanti Devi claimed for counting her service in the Hospital from 01/09/1965. Mr. Banerjee, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that the case of these petitioners stand on the same footings to that of the employees working in M.G.M. Medical College, Jamshedpur. According to the learned counsel, M.G.M. Medical College, Jamshedpur was also initially being run and managed by the private management and the same was subsequently taken over by the Government. Two of the employees of M.G.M. Medical College, Jamshedpur, namely, Karan Singh Sharma and Pramatha Nath Choudhary moved this Court by filing two writ petitions, i.e. W.P.(S) No. 1704/2002 and W.P. (S) No. 2003/2002 for the same reliefs as prayed in these two writ petitions, which were heard and disposed of together by a judgment dated 14/06/2002 by this Court. As per the said judgment in those two writ petitions those two employees/writ petitioners were held to be entitled to get the benefit of their services rendered in the hospital prior to its taken over by the Government. A copy of the judgment, passed by the learned Single Judge in the aforesaid two writ petitions has been placed before this Court.

(2.) SUB -section (1) of Section 3 of the Act provides for the taking over of a private medical colleges by issuing a notification and according to sub -section (2) of the said section whatever assets and properties the college had, these would vest in the State Government and sub -section (3) provides for devolution of all the liabilities and obligations of the College on the State Government. This subsection (3) would operate where the assets of the college were taken over by the State Government in terms of sub -section (1). According to the learned senior counsel for the respondents, these liabilities would also include pension and other pensionary liabilities of the respondents while they were employees of the college before it was taken over. But there is no material on record to show that the erstwhile Management was liable for any pension or pensionary liabilities in relation to its employees. Moreover, Section 6 which deals specifically with the subject of determination of terms and conditions of the teaching staff and other employees of the college, but it does not mention anything about giving weightage of past service for any purpose. There is also no order of State Government in this regard in terms of sub -section (3) of Section 6. We, therefore, do not find any force in the contention of Mr. Raju Ramchandran, learned senior counsel for the respondents. 

(3.) THERE is no scope for this Court to grant any relief to the writ petitioners as claimed by them. Accordingly, it is held that the petitioners cannot claim weightage of their services rendered by them in the Hospital prior to its taking over by the State Government for any purpose or for any pensionary benefits.