SANTOSH KUMAR BHATTACHARYA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this application under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution, the petitioner has braved for issue of an appropriate writ, quashing the Government Notification dated the 5th Sept., 1969, appointing shree Sidheshwar Prasad (Respondent No. 4) as Acting Principal of the Muzaffarour Institute of Technology (a copy of which has been filed as Annexure Rs.8'). and the gradation lists of Professors of different faculties under the administrative control of the Industries Department of the Government of Bihar (Annexures Rs.9' series and Rs.12'), and further directing the respondents 1 to 3 to correctly fix the seniority of the petitioner vis-a-vis. Respondents 4 to 8 and make appointment of Principal of the Institute according to criteria laid down in Annexure Rs.6'.

(2.) On the 18th Oct., 1948, the petitioner was appointed as Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering in the Bihar College of Engineering, Patna, which was the only Government Institution of Engineering in Bihar at that time. Subsequently, other Government Colleges of Engineering and Institutes were also opened and Respondents 4, 5, 7 and 8 were, subsequent to the petitioner, appointed as Assistant Professors of Engineering, either in the Bihar college of Engineering Patna, or the other Engineering Colleges and Institutes between 1951 and 1957. In 1952 the Bihar College of Engineering Patna was transferred to the Patna University and, thereafter, the petitioner was transferred to the Tirhut School of Engineering. Muzaffarpur, as Assistant Professor, where, on the 13th March, 1953, he was promoted to the next higher rank of Associate Professor of Engineering, while respondents 4 to 8 were still working as Assistant Professors of Civil Engineering in different Engineering Colleges or Institutes of the Government of Bihar. In 1954, the State Government (Respondent No. 1) established a new college of Engineering at Muzaffarpur. called the Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology, and the petitioner has averred that, under Government orders, he performed the duties of professor of Engineering, in addition to his own duties as Associate Professor of Engineering, from July 1954, till he was formally appointed as a Professor of Civil Engineering by a Notification dated the 18th Sept., 1959 (Annexure Rs.5'). The petitioner has further averred that in 1956 a permanent post of Professor of Civil Engineering fell vacant in the Bihar College of Engineering, and the petitioner applied for the same, but the petitioner's application was not considered by Respondents 1 to 3. as the posts of teachers in different Engineering Institutions in the State were not borne on one cadre, and the Assistant Professors of Engineering of one institution could not claim promotion to the posts of other institutions, as a matter of right. A copy of the Government letter dated the 19th Aug., 1956, in this respect has been filed as Annexure Rs.1'. The petitioner has also stated in his writ application that on the 11th July, 1960. the Government issued a letter to all the Engineering Institutions of the State that the Government was considering to frame rules regulating the classification of services and cadres and the methods of recruitment to posts under the Department of Industries, recruitment to various categories of administrative and teaching posts in Engineering institutions under the administrative control of the Department of Industries, and pending formulation of such rules, recruitment to the posts of Principals, amongst others, would be governed by the principles enunciated in the said letter of the Government by a Departmental Promotion Committee. (A copy of the said Government letter has been filed as Annexure Rs.6') but no Departmental Promotion Committee has been constituted for making appointments.

(3.) The petitioner has averred that no rule having been framed relating to classification of services and cadres and method of recruitment to various categories of administrative and teaching posts in different Government Engineering institutions, each institution continued to consist of a separate and distinct cadre, that is to say, the posts of engineering teachers of one institution continued to be a separate and distinct cadre within that institution and different from cadre of engineering teachers in the other Government Engineering Institutions in the State. The Government has also not appointed any Departmental Committee for promotion to the post of Principal according to Annexure Rs.6'. According to the petitioner, on retirement of Shree D.P. Sinha, Principal of the Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology, on the 2nd Sept., 1969 the petitioner, who was the senior most Professor of Engineering in the Institute, was asked to take charge on the 3rd Sept., 1969 vide Government order dated the 2nd Sept., 1969 (Annexure Rs.7'), and, accordingly, he took charge on the 3rd Sept., 1969 as acting Principal of the Institution. But, on the 5th Sept., 1969, Respondent No. 2 illegally transferred Shree Sidheswar Prasad (Respondent No. 4). a Professor of Civil Engineering of the Bihar Institute of Technology. Sindri. an outsider to the cadre of Professor of the Muzaffarour Institute of Technology and appointed him as acting Principal of the Institute in supersession of the petitioner's claim. A copy of the relevant order of the Government has been filed as Annexure Rs.8'.