IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CIVIL WRIT JURISDICTION CASE No.4126 of 2011 ------ KUSUM DEVI WIFE OF MANOJ KUMAR RESIDENT OF CHAUSA, P.O. CHAUSA, P.S. BUXAR- Petitioner/s(s) . Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS- Respondent/s(s) . ----- 2 14/07/2011 The Rule or the circular promulgated by the State of Bihar in the year 2008 laid down the minimum qualification to be matriculation for appointment on the post of Secretary of Gram Kutchery. Petitioner admittedly is not a matriculate but a Madhyama can only be loosely treated to be equivalent to matriculation. But since the rule does not talk in terms of equivalence, appointment made on that basis was ordered to be annulled. This is the background under which the petitioner was removed from the post and yet another person, namely, Seema Devi was appointed on a decision taken by the District Administration of Buxar. Learned counsel for the petitioner draws the attention of the Court to the circular or the decision of the State government, especially Panchayati Raj department, which is annexure-9. This circular came to be issued in the background that in some cases which reached the - 2 - High Court, the High Court declared that Madhyama will have to be treated to be equivalent to matriculation and a person having such qualification cannot be ousted from the zone of consideration. The circular certifies that such a situation will exist after 11.01.2009 i.e. the date the State government decided to implement the declaration made by the High Court. But based on the principle that any decision will have prospective effect the circular indicates that any appointment made on the basis of Madhyama earlier cannot subsist because the earlier rule as it existed during the time of appointment of the petitioner, which happened to be in the year 2007, when the minimum requirement was matriculation. It is in this circumstance that the respondents have taken a decision contained in annexure-7 and the same cannot be termed to be arbitrary or extraneous. So far as the claim of the petitioner for future appointments are concerned, that will be governed by the circular or the declaration of the High Court made subsequently. This writ application is dismissed in light of above. AMIN/ (Ajay Kumar Tripathi, J.) - 3 -