RAJ NANDAN PRASAD SINHA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ application under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India is directed against the notification issued by the State Government, respondent No. 1, on 13th Mar., 1978 and 19th June, 1979, by which the private party respondents have been promoted on regular basis as Assistant Conservator of Forest. The further prayer made by the petitioner is for the issuance of an appropriate writ quashing the order dated 13th Mar. 1978 by which respondents 8 to 10 were promoted as Assistant Conservators of Forests, that dated 19th June, 1979 promoting respondents 11 to 25 to the said posts and that 29th Dec. 1979 promoting respondents 26 to 38 as Assistant Conservators, Forests, all over the head of the petitioner. These orders have been marked Annexures 1, 2 and 22 respectively. The further relief sought by the petitioner is that a writ of mandamus be issued to the official respondents to consider the case of the petitioner who admittedly is senior in the cadre of Range officer, Forest, to all the respondents 8 to 38. The petitioner's case has been ignored as is apparent from the order dated 6th Dec. 1978 as contained in Annexure 3, passed by the Minister In-charge, Forest Department, as communicated to the petitioner informing him that he was not eligible or qualified for the post of Assistant Conservator of Forest by promotion. One post of Assistant Conservator of Forest had been kept in reserve for the petitioner and by the Government order dated 6th Dec. 1978 aforementioned, that order of reservation has been rescinded and the post reserved for the petitioner has been de-reserved. The petitioner has, therefore, also prayed for issuance of an appropriate writ quashing the Government order as contained in Annexure 3.

(2.) The facts relevant for the disposal of this application are not in dispute. The petitioner along with respondents 8 to 38 was Range Officer, Forest, the petitioner ranking senior to all the respondents concerned. The matter with regard to the promotion from the post of Range Officer, Forest, to the post of Assistant Conservator of Forest was considered, as in incumbent to do under the rules in existence, by the Department Promotion Committee of which a Member of the State Public Service Commission is the Chairman, and the petitioner's case was recommended with a note that he was fir for promotion. A copy of the recommendation of the Departmental Promotion Committee has been marked Annesure 20/1 to the writ petition and the petitioner's name finds place at serial No. 5 of the recommendation. Admittedly under the statutory rules in force the recommendations of the Departmental Promotion Committee have the same status and effect as the recommendations of the Bihar Public Service Commission. In the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee a Member of the Bihar State Public Service Commission was the President. Thereafter by a latter dated 21st Feb. 1979. as incorporated in Annexure 20 to the writ application, the Secretary of the Bihar Public Service Commission, as directed by the Commission, issued a letter to the authorities concerned, which is borne out by Annexure 20 to the writ application. Thus it will be seen that the petitioner was found eligible and fit for promotion to the post of Assistant Conservator of Forest. Nonetheless even before the recommendation of the Departmental Promotion Committee or the Bihar Public Service Commission could be received by the State Government, the Minister Incharge of the Forest Department passed an order on 6-12-1978, which was communicated to the petitioner under Annexure 3 aforementioned, that the petitioner was not qualified for the post and, therefore, his case for promotion deserves no consideration. Incidentally in this connection we may make a reference to R. 38 of the Bihar Forest Service Rules, 1953 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules') which lays down that "the final selection of officers to be promoted shall be made by the Governor after considering the recommendation made by the Commissioner under R. 37." Rule 37 enjoins that the Commission shall examine all the papers forwarded to it by the Forest Department the thereafter send its recommendation in the matter of promotions to be made and the suitability and fitness of the incumbents to be promoted and then send a report to the Governor. It may be a different matter whether these provisions were brought to the notice of the Minister Incharge by the departmental officers or not, but it cannot detract from the position that the learned Minister chose to shut out the doors of promotional avenues for the petitioner only on the ground that he was not eligible for promotion.

(3.) A very limited question of interpretation of a statutory rule is involved in this case. The whole question is as to whether the petitioner, according to the Rules, is eligible and has got the requisite qualification for being considered to be promoted as an Assistant Conservator of Forest from the tank of Range Officer, Forest, in which grade and rank admittedly he is the senior most vis-a-vis respondents 8 to 38. A counter-affidavit has been filed on behalf of the State in which a categorical stand has been taken that the petitioner has not been considered for promotion in spite of the recommendations of the Departmental Promotion Committee and the Bihar Public Service Commission, merely on the ground that he did not fulfil the requisite qualifications as laid down by R. 3(b) of the Rules. The only point on which the fate of this application depends is with regard to the true interpretation of the language of R. 3(b). Although some other allegations have been made in the petition, we do not think it necessary to go into those questions in the view that we propose to take in this case which is purely legal. The whole of R. 3 of the Rules may usefully be extracted and quoted here: