IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.2926 of 1993 DR.UPENDRA NARAYAN SRIVASTAVA Versus CHANCELLOR,UNIVERSITIES OF BIH ----------- 4 25.8.2008 The petitioner is aggrieved by the order issued by the Registrar of the University of Bihar contained in annexure-16 as far as it concerns the petitioner by which the promotion of Lecturers to the rank of Readers under the 10 year time bound promotion status has been revoked by the Vice-chancellor of the University and he has ordered that they should cease to continue as Readers. There are over a 100 such Lecturers mentioned in annexure-16 but this writ is confined to the petitioner who is at serial no. 1 of the said notification. Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner was initially appointed as a Lecturer in English in S.P.M.S. College, Sualkuchi, Kamrup, Assam on 18.1.1965 under the U.G.C. scale. The S.P.M.S. college in Assam is a Government college under the Gauhati University. The petitioner’s services were confirmed in the said college and he became the Head of Department of the college as well. Thereafter pursuant to an advertisement issued by the University of Bihar in the year 1979 for appointment to the post of Lecturers in English the petitioner applied and was appointed on 21.12.1979 and finally posted in M.J.K. College, Bettia on 1.2.1980. The petitioner thereafter has transferred to R.N. College, Hajipur by the University on 16.7.1980 and was again he was transferred to R.D.S. College, Muzaffarpur where he joined on 26.6.1981 against the vacant post of one Smt. Pramila Sinha. His services were regularized by notification 2 under memo no. P/877 dated 25.2.1984. The petitioner was also given the benefit of pay protection vide annexure-9 in pursuance of meeting of the Syndicate of the University. In pursuance of the statute for time bound promotion of Lecturers to the post of Readers and the Readers to the post of University Professors dated 24.12.1986, the petitioner was promoted to the post of Reader on 1.3.1989 with effect from 1.2.1985. The controversy which has arisen in this case is because of a decision taken by His Excellency the Governor as Chancellors of the University dated 6.5.1992 whereby the word “University” in the statute has been interpreted to mean only those Universities which are situated within the State of Bihar. Having interpreted meaning of University in the aforesaid manner, a direction was issued to the Vice- chancellor of Bihar University, Muzaffarpur to take action in pursuance of the said interpretation which is contained in annexure-15 to the writ application. Following the direction of the Chancellor the impugned annexure has been issued. This issue has been decided by this Court in an unreported judgment dated 26.2.1998 in the case of Deo Narayan Jha Vs. Bihar State Universities (Constituent college) Service Commission and Ors. (C.W.J.C. No. 7844 of 1997). This Court has considered the provisions of the statute dated 24.12.1986 wherein it has been stated “(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary as contained in statutes; it is hereby provided:- Sub Clause (1) a Lecturer serving in the University 3 Department or in a degree college managed and maintained by the University shall on the recommendation of the Bihar State University (Constituent colleges) Service Commission, be promoted on the basis of the time bound scheme to the post of Reader subject to the following conditions:-” and, has compared the provision of the statute with the provision of the statute for Time Bound Promotion of Lecturers to the post of Readers and promotion of Readers to the post of University Professors of affiliated colleges including religious and linguistic minorities colleges. In this statutes the proviso to Sub Clause (c) of Clause (1) reads as follows: “Provided further that the service rendered in more than one University within the State of Bihar shall be deemed to be continuous if the period elapsed between leaving the service of the University and joining the service of another University does not exceed the normal joining as prescribed in the service statute.” On reading and after comparing the two statutes this Court has held that it is clear that while teachers of affiliated colleges are required to be incontinuous service of one or more University within the State of Bihar, there is no such limitation laid down with respect to the teachers of constituent colleges for determination of 10 years of continuous service as a Lecturer in one or more Universities. The judgment aforesaid deals with the objections raised on behalf of the University and also deals with the interpretation and construction of statutes with respect to the words of the statute. After discussing several cases on the subject, this Court has already held that such 4 persons who were teaching in a University other than a University in the State of Bihar and have been appointed in constituent colleges as Lecturers within the State of Bihar shall get the benefit of being treated to be incontinuous service and will be entitled to get the benefit of the statute of time bound promotion of Lecturers to the post of Readers dated 24.12.1986. The petitioner is similarly situated to Deo Narayan Jha who was granted the benefit of the time bound promotion to the post of a Reader and the order removing him from the said post was quashed and it was further ordered that Deo Narayan Jha would be entitled to receive salary of the higher post of Reader with effect from the date on which the earlier notification granting him time bound promotion was issued. I accordingly quash annexure-15 dated 6.5.1992 and annexure-16 which is the consequential order dated 18.3.1993 and order that the petitioner should be treated as a Reader from the date of his notification to the said post and the petitioner is also entitled to receive the salary of the said post. This writ application is thus allowed. Sanjay (Sheema Ali Khan, J.)