IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.2671 of 1993 Md. Taiyab, son of late Md. Nasir, resident of village Gangapatti, under Gram Panchayat Purab Baruari, P.S. Supaul District – Supaul. ----------- Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Bihar 2. The Director-cum-Additional Secretary, Directorate of Panchayati Raj, Government of Bihar, Patna. 3. The District Magistrate, Saharsa 4. The District Magistrate, Supaul 5. The District Panchayat Officer, Saharsa 6. The District Panchayat Officer, Supaul ------------ Respondents 1st set. 7. Bishwanath Mehta, son of Tannuklal Mehta, resident of village Parsa Garhi, under Gram Panchayat Parsa Garhi, P.S. Trivaniganj, District – Supaul. 8. Shyam Sundar Yadav, son of Satnarain Yadav, Resident of Gram Panchayat Gwalpara, P.S. Chhatapur, District – Supaul. ---------------- Respondents 2nd Set. ----------- 5 03.12.2008 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the State. Petitioner wants quashing of the gradation list of Dalpatis which was issued vide order dated 10.05.1989 & 16.01.1993. By virtue of the orders junior to the petitioners, who have been arraigned as private respondents in the writ application have been shown to be senior to the petitioner. The ground is that even though the petitioner was appointed by the Gram Panchayat earlier his approval by the District Panchayat Officer was from a later date. After several rounds of litigations and the decisions taken in this regard by the State Government, the issue as it - 2 - stands today is that seniority of the Dalpatis will now have to be fixed from the date of their initial appointment and not from the date when the District Panchayat Officer finds time to accord approval to such a decision. These developments have taken place, subsequent to the filing of the writ application and during its pendency. There is reflection of such a decision in the order dated 17.03.2005 which was passed in C.W.J.C. No. 1211 of 2000, in the case of Jawahar Rai Versus The State of Bihar & others reported in 2005 (2) PLJR 737. The issue having been settled in this regard the present writ application is disposed of with a direction upon the District Magistrate, Saharsa and District Magistrate, Supaul, respondent no.3 and 4 respectively that they shall rework, the seniority of the petitioner based on the date of his initial appointment. Once his seniority is re-fixed all the consequential benefits like promotion and other issues will also have to be considered thereafter. Since it is an old matter relating to the year 1993, it is hoped and expected that the respondents will accord due priority and decide the issue within four months from the date of communication or production of the copy of this order. The writ application is allowed with the above direction. Rajeev/ (Ajay Kumar Tripathi, J.)