CHANDRAMAULI KR.PRASAD,J. - (1.) THIS application has been filed for quashing the order dated 6.2.2003 whereby the petitioner has been directed to superannuate from the service of the Bihar State Electricity Board on 30th of June, 2003 on completion of 42 years of service.
(2.) SHORT facts giving rise to the present application are that the petitioner was appointed as Meter Charger on 1.7.1961 in the Patna Electric Supply Company Ltd. Later on, the Patna Electric Supply Company was taken over by the State Government and vested in the Bihar State Electricity Board on 6th of February, 1974 which is now known as Patna Electricity Supply Undertaking, (hereinafter referred to as the Undertaking). While the petitioner was working in the undertaking his service book was opened showing his date of birth as 19.12.1945. It seems that the aforesaid entry was made on the basis of the entry made in the Secondary School Examination Certificate, which the petitioner passed in June, 1962 i.e. after his appointment. It is the grievance of the petitioner that in the service book there being no interpolation, he ought not to have been retired from service on completion of 42 years of service but should have ailcwed to continue in service till the age of 60 years. Mr. Birendra IMarayan Sharma, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that age of superannuation, of the employees like the petitioner being 60 years and the petitioners date of birth 19th of February, 1945 being duly recorded in the service book, he ought not to have been retired from service on completion of 42 years of service. In support of his submission learned counsel has placed reliance on a Division Bench judgment of this Court in the case of Shaikh Lal Mohammad V/s. The State of Bihar and others [1995 (2) All PLR 44] and my attention has been drawn to paragraph 2 of the judgment which reads as follows : - "No rule has been brought to our notice which provides that a person can be compulsorily retired on his completing 40 years of service, notwithstanding the fact that he may not have attained the age of 58 years, which is the age of superannuation prescribed by the Rules. Rule 73. upon which reliance has been placed in Annexure -3, does not support the plea of the appointing authority that a person can be compulsorily retired on completing 40 years of service. There is no dispute about the date of birth of the petitioner. In these circumstances we find that Annexure -3 proceeds on an erroneous basis that a government servant can be compulsorily retired on completing 40 years of service. There is no such provision in the Rules." (underlining mine)
(3.) ANOTHER decision on which Mr. Sharma has placed reliance is a decision of a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Mohktar Ahmad V/s. Bihar State Road Transport Corporation and others [1995 (1) PLJR 183] and my attention has been drawn to paragraph 8 of the judgment which reads as follows: - "In the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the Corporation these submissions have not been controverted. It is, thus, apparent that when the petitioner was appointed at the age of 16 years and 6 months it was within the complete knowledge of the employer and even in case there was any prohibition against appointment of a person below the age of 18 years the same was waived by the employer in consideration of getting hold of a good football player. In that view it is no longer open for the Corporation after forty years to turn back and to say that the initial appointment being bad his date of birth must be pushed back by a year and a half. In our opinion, such an action would be wholly unreasonable and arbitrary.";