IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P.(S) No. 556 of 2010
Hari Nandan Singh ... ... Petitioner
-V e r s u s -
1. The State of Jharkhand;
2. The Secretary, Road Construction Department, Government of
Jharkhand, Ranchi.
3. The Special Secretary, Road Construction Department, Government Of
Jharkhand, Ranchi.
4. The Deputy Secretary, Road Construction Department, Government of
Jharkhand, Ranchi.
5. The Engineer-in-chief, Road Construction Department, Government of
Jharkhand, Ranchi.
6. The Chief Engineer (Communication), Road Construction Department,
Ranchi.
7. The Superintending Engineer, Road Circle, Road Construction
Department, Hazaribagh.
8. The Executive Engineer, Road Division, Road Construction Department,
Giridih.
... ... Respondents
...
CORAM: - HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE POONAM SRIVASTAV
For the Petitioner: Mr. Saurabh Arun, Advocate
Mr. Krishna Shanker, Advocate
Mr. Amit Sinha, Advocate
Ms. Neeta Krishna, Advocate.
For the Respondents: J.C. to S.C.-I
02/ 11.07.2011
Heard counsel for the petitioner as well as the State counsel on
behalf of the respondents.
Counter affidavit is on record and the petition is listed for
‘Admission’. As agreed between the respective counsels, the writ petition is
heard finally.
The instant writ petition is preferred challenging the order of
termination dated 16.01.2010. The second prayer is claiming regularisation
on the post for which he was appointed after the termination order is
quashed. The assertion on behalf of the petitioner is that similar benefits
have been granted in other cases by this Court as well as by the Apex
Court.
The petitioner was initially appointed by the competent authority
on the post of Junior Account Clerk. Pursuant to his appointment, the
petitioner joined on 01.01.1985. His service book was opened and the
petitioner continued to work thereafter for almost 26 years. The contention
on behalf of the State for termination is that the appointment of the petitioner
was made by the incompetent authority who was not authorised for
appointing the petitioner on the aforesaid post as well as the fact that the
procedure for appointment was also not followed. Similarly situated number
of employees were also terminated after serving for a considerable length of
period. The respondents claim that the termination of the petitioner is
because their appointment on the post on which they were discharging their
duty was held to be illegal ab initio. The respective appointment in respect of
all the employees were challenged by them in separate writ petition
including the present one.
Other similar writ petitions have been allowed. The order was
challenged in L.P.A. which was rejected by the Division Bench. Both the
orders were again questioned before the Apex Court. In one of the cases,
the Apex Court namely in Civil Appeal No. 918 of 2008 annexed with the writ
petition, held that the incumbent had worked for a period of ten years and
this length of service was taken into consideration. The Hon’ble Supreme
Court adopted a liberal view and directed the respondents to set aside the
termination order. The Apex Court directed regularisation for the reason that
after putting in such a long period of satisfactory period of service, such
employees cannot be ousted without any rhyme or reason and if at all their
appointment was not by following the procedure of law, the respondents
should have taken steps immediately after the appointment but not after
such length of time, specially when they are no more entitled for a job in any
other Department.
Counsel for the petitioner has also placed reliance on a decision
of this Court in the case of Gopal Singh Vs. State of Jharkhand & Others
reported in 2005(4) JLJR 614 and also in the case reported in 2005(3) JLJR
240. These Judgments have also been affirmed by the Apex Court. The
petitioner is also entitled for the same regularisation and liberal view and
their claim is liable to be considered and the same relief should be granted.
In view of what has been stated above, the writ petition is allowed.
The order dated 16.01.2010 is hereby quashed.
(Poonam Srivastav, J.)
RC