IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No 16568 of 2010 1 Devanand Sah, son of late Shiv Prasad Sah, present working as Reader in the Department of Physics, Marwari College, Kishanganj 2 Sudhir Kumar Poddar, son of late Tarni Prasad Poddar, present working as Reader in the Department of Botany, Marwari College, Kishanganj 3 Renuka Saha, wife of late Nirmal Kumar Roy, present working as Reader in the Department of Sanskrit, Marwari College, Kishanganj 4 Vidya Devi, wife of Sri Shiv Narayan Sah, present working as Reader in the Department of Philosophy, Marwari College, Kishanganj 5 Md Rizwanul Haque, son of late Md Safi, presently working as Reader in the Department of Urdu, Marwari College, Kishanganj 6 Jagdish Prasad Chaudhary, son of late Brahm Narayan Chaudhary, present working as Reader in the Department of Physics, R D S College, Salmari (Katihar) 7 Md Abdul Fazal Azad Alam Ansari, son of late Md Shamsood Alam, present working as Reader in the Department of Urdu, R D S College, Salmari (Katihar) 8 Janardan Prasad Yadav, son of late Maheshwari Prasad Yadav, presently working as Reader in the Department of History, R D S College, Salmari (Karihar) 9 Meena Kumari, daughter of late Ram Lakhan Poddar, present working as Rader in the Department of Philosophy, R D S College, Salmari (Katihar) 10 Narayan Biswas, son of late Vishwanath Biswas, present working as Reader in the Department of Commerce, R D S College, Salmari (Katihar) 11 Arjun Jha, son of Sri Uma Kant Jha, presently working as Reader in the Department of Mathematics, M J M Mahila College, Katihar 12 Surendra Prasad Sinha, son of late Janki Prasad Sinha, present working as Reader in the Department of Physics, M J M Mahila College, Katihar 13 Mandira Dutt, wife of Sri Subrat Pal, presently working as Reader in the Department of Bangali, M J M Mahila College, Katihar 14 Sandhya Jha, wife of Sri Raj Kumar Jha, present working as Rader in the Department of Home Science, M J M Mahila College, Katihar 15 Abha Kumari, wife of Dr Nawal Kishore Prasad, present working as Reader in the Department of Botany, M J M Mahila College, Katihar -Petitioners Versus 1 The State of Bihar 2 The Principal Secretary, Human Resources Development, Government of Bihar, Patna 3 The Secretary, Higher Education, Government of Bihar, Patna 4 The Deputy Secretary, Higher Education, Government of Bihar, Patna 5 The Director, Higher Education, Government of Bihar, Patna 6 The Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University, Laloo Nagar, Madhepura through the Vice Chancellor 7 The Vice Chancellor, the Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University, Laloo Nagar, Madhepura 8 The Registrar, the Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University, Laloo Nagar, Madhepura 9 The Finance Officer, the Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University, Laloo Nagar, Madhepura 10 The Principal, Marwari College, Kishanganj 2 11 The Principal, R D S College, Salmari (Katihar) 12 The Principal, M J M Mahila College, Katihar -Respondents ----------- 3 10.11.2010 The petitioners are Teachers in B N Mandal University Madhepura, a University constituted under the provisions of the Bihar State Universities Act, 1976. The issue involved is with regard to fixation of pay scale of Readers upon implementation of the revised pay scale as per UGC norms with effect from 01.01.1996. In short, the question is from what date the pay scale of Rs 14,940 /- basic would be applicable to the Readers. In my view, this question stood finally resolved in CWJC No 18552 of 2009 and analogous cases (Dr Binod Kumar Pandey and Others –Versus- T M Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur and Others). By judgment dated 05.07.2010, this Court held that Government rightly appreciated the position at the first instance and allowed fixation of pay scale on basis of five years’ period as Reader. If a person was promoted to the post of Reader prior to 01.01.1996 then from the date of such promotion, five years have to be counted and the basic pay fixed accordingly. If they had already completed five years prior to 01.01.1996 then with effect from 01.01.1996, they were entitled to the said basic pay. Accordingly, the Pay Fixation Committees of different Universities revised the pay scales and they were paid as noticed in the above referred judgment in the case of Dr Binod Kumar Pandey (supra). Someone created some confusion and now the absurd stand taken by the Government Auditor was that the pay scale having been implemented from 01.01.1996, the five years would be counted from 01.01.1996. In other words, no one would get the said basic revised pay prior to 3 01.01.2001 notwithstanding earlier clarifications given by the Central Government. This Court held the confusion unwarranted and misplaced. This Court restored the earlier position as recognized by the Government and the pay fixation as done by the Pay Fixation Committee and restrained the State or the Universities from revising the pay scales otherwise. Identical is the situation here. The judgment applies with full force. It may be noted that as hundreds of Lecturers of different Universities were similarly effected, subsequently, this Court, in the case of Krishna Deo Prasad Singh –Versus- State of Bihar and Others being CWJC No 33 of 2010 and analogous cases disposed of on 10.08.2010, held that the law, as settled in the case of Dr Binod Kumar Pandey (supra) would apply to all Universities uniformly and Teachers are not required to obtain orders individually from this Court but as is usual in this State, the same is followed more in breach than otherwise and every Teacher is required to come to this Court and obtain orders individually. That is wrong and not acceptable. I, accordingly, allow the writ application in the same terms as in the case of Dr Binod Kumar Pandey (supra) and Krishna Deo Prasad Singh (supra). Any recovery made or money withheld on account of the controversy would be paid back to the petitioners and their like within a period of one month, the responsibility whereof would be on the Registrar and the Finance Officer of the concerned Universities. M.E.H./ (Navaniti Prasad Singh) 4