N.N.TIWARI, J. - (1.) IN this writ application the petitioner has prayed for the direction to the respondents to suitably post the petitioner against the vacant sanctioned post of In Charge Superintending Engineer in the department of Drinking Water and Sanitation and for payment of arrears of salary from 1.9.2003 till date.
(2.) THE case has a chequered background. Earner the petitioner was sought to be transferred from Dhanbad to Sahebganj Division on the post of Executive Engineer. The petitioner having been aggrieved by the said order had taken resort to this Court in a writ application being W.P.(S) No. 4681/2003 which was culminated into L.P.A. No. 639/2003. The Division Bench while disposing of the said L.P.A. passed the following order : "For the foregoing reasons and considerations, we are also of the opinion that the appellant should not have been transferred as an Executive Engineer and similarly, the respondent No. 6, should not have been described as a Superintending Engineer -in - Charge because by doing so, an unwarranted complacency is created in the mind of the respondent No. 6 to the prejudice of the appellant who justifiably therefore, considers this to be an affront to his status. Although, both have not yet been promoted on the post of Superintending Engineer and although both still are Executive Engineers, the Notification dated 12.9.2003 in so far as it relates to the appellant can not, stricto sensu, be considered to be an order of reversion but a genuine grievance can definitely be inculcated in the mind of the appellant when he finds that a person who was junior to him in the cadre of Assistant Engineers, has been asked to function as Superintending Engineering in charge whereas he has been shifted out of that post and has been asked to work as an Executive Engineer. The entire exercise of the Government therefore, appears to be irrational and unfair. Consequently, we are of the opinion that both the Notifications i.e. Notification No. 3787, dated 12.9.2003 as contained in Annexure -8 and the Notification No. 3797, dated 12.9.2003 as contained in Annexure -7 transferring the appellant to Sahebganj as an Executive Engineer and posting the respondent No. 6 as Superintending -in -Charge at Dhanbad in place of the appellant should also be set aside. Consequently, these two Notifications as also Notification dated 3.7.2003 as contained in Annexure -9 are hereby set aside and the matter is remanded to the concerned authorities to reconsider the matter strictly in accordance with law after taking into consideration the observations made above as also judgment of Hon ble Supreme Court of India referred to above." The grievance of the petitioner is that in spite of the said order of this Court, the petitioner was not given proper place and he was not paid his salary. The petitioner then approached this Court over again in W.P. (S) No. 2284/2004 and the writ application was disposed of with a direction to the Commissioner -Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation Division to consider the petitioner 'srepresentation dated 24.3.2004 in accordance with law and pass an appropriate order within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. It was observed that according to the order of the Division Bench, the petitioner would be entitled to the current salary. The grievance of the petitioner is that in spite of the said order, the petitioner 'ssalary has not been paid till date.
(3.) COUNTER affidavit has been filed by the respondent No. 2 stating, inter alia, that the petitioner 'sclaim that he himself assumed charge was not approved or accepted by the department and he was treated to be absent from the duty unauthorizedly. However, it has been stated that the claim of posting shall be considered after the clearance of roster and he will be immediately posted thereafter. A supplementary counter affidavit has also been filed stating, inter alia, that the petitioner has been posted as In -Charge -Technical Secretary to the Chief Engineer H. Qs. by Memo No. 1440, dated 4.4.2005 and if the petitioner files an application for payment of salary, a decision will be taken by the department as soon as possible.;