IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA LPA No.75 of 2008 Devanand Prasad Singh aged about 54 years Son of Late Ramashish Singh, at present working as Deputy Superintendent, Govt. Ayurvedic College and Hospital, Kadamkuan, Patna and being resident of Officers Flat, Rajbanshi Nagar, Patna. Versus 1. The State of Bihar through Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Health Medical Education and Family Welfare, New Secretariat, Patna. 2. The Deputy Secretary, Department of Health Medical Education and Family Welfare, Bihar, New Secretariat, Patna. 3. The Director, Indigenous Medicine, Bihar, New Secretariat, Patna. 4. Sidheshwar Upadhayay, father’s name not known to the petitioner and at present working as Ayurvedic Medical Officer at Govt. Ayuyrvedic Aushdhalaya, Bhadaula, Rohtas. 5. Vijay Kumar Pandey, father’s name not known to the petitioner and at present working as Ayurvedic Medical Officer at Govt. Ayurvedic Aushdhalaya,Chainpur,Dumka. 6. Mahendra Awasthi, father’s name not known to the petitioner and at present working as Ayurvedic Medical Officer at Govt. Ayurvedic Aushdhalaya, Manika, Palamu. 7. Birendra Bahadur Singh, father’s name not known to the petitioner and at present working as Ayurvedic Medical Officer at Govt. Ayurvedic Aushdhalaya, Chainpur, Dumka. ----------- For the Appellant : Mr. Binod Kanth, Sr. Advocate & Mr. Bipin Bihari Singh. For the Respondents 1to 3: Mr. Anil Kumar, G.P. XI ------------ P R E S E N T Hon'ble the Chief Justice & Hon'ble Mr. Justice Kishore K. Mandal ------------ Dated, the 14th November, 2008. After having heard Senior Counsel for the appellant, we - 2 - are of the view that the Letters Patent Appeal is devoid of any substance. 2. It is true that the appellant was appointed as Ayurvedic Medical Officer on 22nd April, 1983 on ad-hoc basis in Ayurvedic Service cadre through selection on the recommendation of the Bihar Public Service Commission and his service has been confirmed in that cadre. But the fact of the matter is that respondent nos. 4 to 7 were also appointed as Ayurvedic Doctors way back in the year 1981 by various District Boards at various allopathic dispensaries run by the District Board. That those dispensaries were taken over by the State Government vide notification dated 16th March, 1981 is not in dispute. The notification provided for absorption of these doctors. It transpires that pursuant to the notification dated 16th March, 1981, the services of respondent nos. 4 to 7 were placed at the disposal of the Civil Surgeon-cum-Chief Medical Officer, Bhojpur. However, the Civil Surgeon-cum-Chief Medical Officer returned the services of respondent nos. 4 to 7 to the District Boards. Aggrieved thereby the present respondent no. 5 Vijay Kumar Pandey and others filed a writ petition being C.W.J.C. No. 2169 of 1981 before this Court. This Court disposed of that writ petition on 5th March, 1986 by setting aside the order of the Civil Surgeon-cum-Chief Medical Officer, Bhojpur and directing that their cases be referred to the Bihar Public Service Commission (for short ‘Commission’) for consideration of their suitability. In view of the direction of this Court dated 5th - 3 - March, 1986, the matter relating to absorption of respondent nos. 4 to 7 was referred to the Commission. The Commission considered their suitability and recommended for their absorption vide its communication dated 16th July, 1992. Based on that recommendation, the respondent nos. 4 to 7 were absorbed in the Bihar Ayurvedic Service Cadre with effect from 1st February, 1981 vide notification dated 20th October, 1993. Thus the absorption of respondent nos. 4 to 7 in the Bihar Ayurvedic Service Cadre is effective from 1st April, 1981 i.e., much before the petitioner was appointed on 22nd April, 1983. The legality and correctness of the said notification has not at all been put in issue by the appellant. The inter se seniority of the appellant and respondent nos. 4 to 7 in the gradation list is only consequent upon the notification dated 20th October, 1993 whereby on the recommendation of the Commission, respondent nos. 4 to 7 have been absorbed in the Bihar Ayurvedic Service cadre with effect from 1st February, 1981. Even if we assume that at the time of filing of the writ petition, the appellant was not aware of the notification dated 20th October, 1993, at least when the said notification was placed on record by respondent nos. 4 and 5 along with their counter affidavit in the year 2007, the appellant ought to have challenged the legality and correctness of the said notification dated 20th October, 1993 which he never did. Once the notification dated 20th October, 1993 stands, and it does, for want of any challenge, the claim of the appellant that he must rank senior to respondent nos. 4 to 7 cannot be accepted. - 4 - 3. Seen, thus, consideration of the matter by the Single Judge cannot be said to suffer from any legal flaw. 4. The Letters Patent Appeal does not deserve to be admitted. It is dismissed in limine. R. M. Lodha, CJ Kishore K. Mandal, J AMIN/-