IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA LPA No.596 of 2008 INDRA WATI DEVI @ INDRA WATI KUMARI Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS ----------- For the appellant: Mr. Rajeev Kumar Singh, Advocate ------- P R E S E N T Hon'ble the Chief Justice & Hon'ble Mr. Justice C.K. Prasad ------- Dated, the Ist September, 2008 Appeal suffers from delay of one hundred and thirteen days and for condonation thereof, an application (I.A.no.4671/2008) has been made. Even if, we condone the delay in filing the appeal, in our considered view, the appeal is devoid of any substance and does not deserve to be admitted. 2. The counsel would emphasise that the appellant was holding sufficient educational qualification for appointment to the post of Panchayat Teacher but to our querry, he did not dispute that on the cut off date, i.e. 01-01-2005, the appellant had not attained 18 years of age and, therefore, on that date she did not fulfill age eligibility. 3. The counsel would, however, submit that initial appointment of the appellant was for a period of eleven months, and even though the appellant was not holding age eligibility on that date, after expiry of eleven months, her services was extended, and by that - 2 - time, she attained majority and, therefore, termination was bad in law. 4. We are afraid, the argument overlooks and ignores the most vital aspect that the process of selection was initiated vide advertisement issued by the Secretary, Primary and Adult Education, Bihar, Patna published on 11th April, 2005. The said advertisement clearly provided for age eligibility. Since she was not even major on that date, her appointment could not be held to be valid on that date. Any extension of service subsequently and also her attaining the age by that time would not legitimise the order of appointment which was illegal at its inception. 5. Appeal has no merit. It is dismissed in limine. This also disposes of I.A.No.4671 of 2008. R.M. Lodha, CJ C.K. Prasad, J. Sunil