IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.10996 of 2002 Laxmi Nandan Prasad Sinha, son of Late Sarjoo Prasad Resident of Mohalla West Ashok Nagar, Road No.8, P.S. Kankarbagh, District-Patna. Versus 1. The state of bihar, through its Chief Secretary, Old Secretariat Building, Patna. 2. The Secretary, Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, Government of Bihar, Patna. 3. The Inspector General, Prison, Department of Home (Prison), Government of Bihar , Patna. 4. The Engineer-in-Chief-cum-Additional Secretary-cum- Special Secretary, Department of Road Construction, Government of Bihar, Patna. .... Respondents. ----------- 5/ 28/2/2009 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the State. The prayer in this writ application is for payment of salary on the post of Section Officer for the period 12.12.1994 to 31.1.1996. The petitioner was promoted to the post of Section Officer on 9.12.1994. The counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents admits that in pursuance of the same he gave his joining on 12.12.1994. It appears that the petitioner was earlier working in the Home (Prison) Department as an assistant. The latter department was not willing to let him go as it was more than satisfied with the efficient discharge of his duties with regard to the court cases. The Home (Prison) Department, therefore, wrote to the Administrative and Personnel Reforms Department that 2 the petitioner may be retained in the Home (Jail) Department for the present. The petitioner appears to have become the victim of his own efficiency. The fact that in pursuance of his promotion to the post of Section Officer he joined the post in the Road Construction Department is more than apparent from the subsequent order of the Road Construction Department on 1.7.1995, at annexure-5, sending him back to the Home (Prison) Department till further orders. If the petitioner had not joined the post of Section Officer, the question of issuance of a formal order sending him back to the Home (Prison) Department did not arise. His efficiency has become his bane and higher, he is sought to be deprived of the higher salary of the post of Section Officer. The counter affidavit of the respondents at paragraph-6 simultaneously states that he joined the Road Construction Department on 12.12.1994 and that his joining was not accepted in the Road Construction Department. It is very unfortunate that in a writ petition raising no complicated questions of law, rather a fact simpliciter of the promotion and joining of the petitioner when he was sent to another department to discharge 3 certain duties, the respondents have chosen to sit in the shelter of the pendency of the writ application to deny what was legitimately due to the petitioner. They have forced him to work on a post lower than the promotional post, denying him the salary of the promotional post, only because he was an efficient officer. The respondents could have easily disposed of the matter themselves on administrative side rather than waiting decision in this case seven years after the institution of the writ application. The petitioner is held entitled to the wages of the post of Section Officer for the period 12.12.1994 to 31.1.1996. This Court also holds that he is entitled to interest upon the same at the rate of 5% from 12.12.1994 till the date of the institution of the writ application i.e. 27.9.2002. Let the same be paid to him within a maximum period of 12 weeks from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. The arrears shall carry interest at the same rate again after the expiry of 12 weeks till the date of actual payment. The contention of the respondents that the petitioner was not entitled to the pay scale of Section 4 Officer on either of the principles of ‘No work, no pay’ on the latter post or that the period in question shall be treated as a period of ‘waiting for posting’, has only to be rejected. Even if it is held to be a period of waiting for posting, the petitioner is not to be faulted. The application is allowed. KC ( Navin Sinha, J.)