IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.568 of 2011 Ravi Shankar Mishra, son of late Sada Sheo Mishra, resident of Anand Bag (Bhikhanpur), P.O. Bhagalpur, District – Bhagalpur, at present posted as Correspondence Clerk, Irrigation Circle, Bhagalpur, Combined Building, Bhagalpur Versus 1. The State Of Bihar through the Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. 2. Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Govt. of Bihar, Bhagalpur. 3. Superintending Engineer, Water Resources Department, Irrigation Circle, Bhagalpur. 4. District Account Officer, Bhagalpur. ----------- For the petitioner: - Mr. Nand Gopal Mishra. For the respondents :- Mrs. Kumari Amrita, GP-10 _____ 03. 4.7.2011 Petitioner was appointed as a Correspondence Clerk in the department of Water Resources, Government of Bihar. He was working under the jurisdiction of the Chief Engineer, Bhagalpur. By virtue of notification No. 904 dated 15.4.1991 petitioner was given benefit of time bound promotion w.e.f. 5.12.1984. From 1991 petitioner has drawn the benefit of such a decision of the respondents without any objection emerging from any quarter. Petitioner has now reached virtually the age of superannuation when the decision contained in Annexure-6 has been communicated to him, which has serious consequence. Annexure-6 is dated 19.8.2010 and it states that since petitioner had not passed the departmental accounts examination, therefore, the benefit of time bound promotion given to him is taken away from a retrospective date. This decision, therefore, has become the subject 2 matter of challenge in the present writ application. Submission of the counsel for the petitioner is that in similar circumstances on many an occasions the High Court has declared in so many terms that benefit conferred upon an employee cannot be taken away after decades , more so when there is no material to show that this benefit was obtained by fraud and misrepresentation on behalf of employee. This is not the case of the State as well. In this regard reliance is placed on a Full Bench decision rendered in the case of Ram Binod Singh vs. Bihar State Electricity Board and others, reported in 2007 (3) PLJR 398. Such view has also been affirmed by the Hon`ble Supreme Court in the case of Syed Abdul Qadir & ors v. State of Bihar & ors, 2009 (2) PLJR 74 (SC). In addition to that, the Court has to test the validity of the rationale of the respondents with regard to the ground given for such a decision. The primary reason for taking away the benefit of the time bound promotion w.e.f. 1984 as well as the consequential recovery is that the petitioner had not passed the accounts examination conducted by the department. The High Court has declared in so many words that time bound promotions are not substantive promotions since no change on the post comes about by conferment of time bound promotions. There is some change with regard to pay scale but that pay scale comes to be conferred on an employee by virtue 3 of the fact that he has had no avenues of promotion available to him on the post and the work he has to do. The scheme for time bound promotion therefore envisages such grant on completion of a time frame after 10 years & 25 years. Insistence of passing departmental examination may be required in matters of substantive promotion but time bound promotions cannot be clubbed with such substantive promotion. The stand of the respondents are irrational. This Court, therefore, in similar circumstances had held in so many words taking into consideration the various aspects of such dispute in the past, including the decisions on the issue. One such case was CWJC No. 1084 of 2007 decided on 31.8.2010. If that is the law, then Annexure-6 has to be quashed and is being quashed. Writ is allowed with a direction that if any recovery has been made on account of Annexure-6 having been passed against the petitioner, the same will be ordered to be refunded to him. The benefit of time bound promotion will continue to accrue to the petitioner as if Annexure-6 was never in existence. rkp ( Ajay Kumar Tripathi, J.)