IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.13971 of 2010 Dr.Arun Kumar Sinha, son of Late Sita Ram Sinha, resident of village & P.O.- Mahamadda, P.S.-Tajpur, District-Samastipur, at present posted as Regional Deputy Director, Health Services, Magadh Division, Gaya. -Petitioner. VERSUS 1. The State of Bihar. 2. The Principal Secretary, Department of Health, Government of Bihar, Patna. 3. The Under Secretary, Department of Health, Government of Bihar, Patna. 4. The Divisional Commissioner, Magadh Division, Gaya, Bihar. 5. The Civil Surgeon, Gaya, Bihar. –Respondents. ----------- 03 21.09.2010 The petitioner was Regional Deputy Director, Health Services, Gaya. He has to retire within a span of about a year. He has been ordered to be transferred as Deputy Director, Headquarter at Patna in is own pay scale. The vacancy so caused has been filled up temporarily by the Civil Surgeon, Gaya. Petitioner objects to his transfer on two grounds. Firstly, he has almost a year to retire and, as such, as per Government policy he should not be shifted at the fag end of his career. He secondly submits that in terms of the Bihar District Medical Cadre/Bihar Health Service Cadre (Appointment on Regular/Contract Basis and Service Conditions) Rules, 2008, he being in the post of Regional Deputy Director, which is senior than the Civil Surgeon and as a Regional Director he was exercising jurisdiction over the Civil Surgeon, he has now been posted as Deputy Director, which as per the said 2008 rules, is a post - 2 - equivalent to the Civil Surgeon. Therefore, effectively he is being down graded. He relies on Rule-9 and Schedule 1 of the Rules. On behalf of the State, it is submitted that petitioner is in the pay scale of Rs.14,300 - Rs.18,300, which is the pay scale for Civil Surgeon/Deputy Director. Learned counsel for the State submits that probably at the Secretariat they are still using old nomenclature for the post and not as per 2008 Rules. He submits the considering the pay scale of the petitioner, petitioner is equivalent to Civil Surgeon and, being the one of the senior most Civil Surgeon, was appointed as Regional Deputy Director. Which post, in fact, as per the 2008 Rules does not exist. In any view of the matter, it is submitted that even though the Civil Surgeon, Gaya may be junior to him but there is no clash between the two. Petitioner being Deputy Director at Headquarters does not make him inferior or junior to the Civil Surgeon, Gaya in any respect. In my view, the learned counsel for the State is correct. The pay scale of petitioner being that a Deputy Director/Civil Surgeon. He cannot claim the privileges of Regional Deputy Director, which is a higher pay scale. The above nomenclature apparently has been very loosely used but that makes little difference. However, so far as transfer within one year of superannuation is concerned, the petitioner would be at liberty to make a representation - 3 - before the authority, who would consider it in accordance with law and pass appropriate orders at the earliest but not later than 15 days from the time the representation is duly filed. This is, however, subject to petitioner filing a representation, if not already filed, once again within one week from today. With these observations, the writ petition is disposed of. Trivedi/ (Navaniti Prasad Singh, J.)