IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA LPA No.723 of 2009 SMT.DEWANTA DEVI, wife of late Chandra Shekhar Singh, resident of village- Dehri, P.S. Rajpur, Dist.- Buxar. …Appellant (Petitioner) Versus 1. The State of Bihar through its Chief Secretary, Old Secretariat, Patna. 2. The Principal Secretary, Panchayati Raj Department, Patna. 3. The District Magistrate, Buxar. 4. The Block Development Officer, Chausa, Dist. - Buxar. …Respondents (Respondents) ----------- 2/ 23.06.2009 Heard learned counsel for the appellant, learned counsel for the State and perused the judgment of the learned writ court under appeal. The petitioner has been removed from the post of Mukhiya under orders of the state government under the provision of section 18(5) of the Bihar Panchayat raj Act, 2006, as amended by Amendment Act of 2007. The stand of the appellant is that certain appointments of Panchayat Teachers were illegal and hence, the petitioner did not take the required steps for payment of their salary. She has been removed from the office on the charge that even after the appointments, in question, were found valid by the competent authority-Block Development Officer, she refused to accept the orders and directions of the higher authorities including the District Magistrate and prevented payment of salary to the teachers whose appointments were found valid. It has been submitted before us that the learned writ court failed to appreciate the submissions that the petitioner’s defence has not been properly considered and that although the Block Development - 2 - Officer is competent under the rules to decide the validity of such appointments of the teachers, according to the petitioner, the adjudication by the Block Development Officer was wrong and illegal. The beneficiary teachers whose appointments have been found valid by the Block Development Officer are not before us as they were not impleaded as party in the writ petition. Nothing can be said against the determination by the Block Development Officer when the beneficiaries are not the parties. The petitioner had to either succeed before a competent court against the determination by the Block Development Officer or as the Mukhiya the petitioner had to obey the lawful orders for payment of salary to the Panchayat Teachers. There is no illegality in the order under appeal as the writ court has considered the matter in detail and found that the petitioner has disobeyed the orders of the competent higher authorities which resulted into dislocation of payment of salary to Panchayat Teachers. In the facts of the case, we find no merit in the appeal. It is, accordingly, dismissed. JA/- (Shiva Kirti Singh, ACJ) (Anjana Prakash, J.)