IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No 17044 of 2007 1 Santosh Kumar Singh, son of late Srikrishna Prasad Singh, resident at Nahar Area (Civil Lines), Buxar, Police Station – Buxar, District – Buxar, Lab Incharge, Department of Psychology, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar 2 Lalan Prasad Singh, son of late Ram Badan Singh, resident of village – Haripur, Police Station – Pandey Patti, Buxar, District – Buxar, Lab Incharge, Department of Chemistry, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar 3 Surendra Nath Choubey, son of late Ram Pujan Choubey, resident at Piparpati, Road Bangla Ghat, Buxar, Police Station – Buxar, District – Buxar, Lab Incharge, Department of Psychology, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar 4 Kishan Bihari Pandey, son of late Shyam Sunder Pandey, resident at Mathia Mohalla, Civil Lines, Buxar, Police Station – Buxar, District – Buxar, Lab Incharge, Department of Physics, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar 5 Ramesh Chandra Lal Asthana, son of late Janardan Lal Asthana, resident at behing Basaon Mathia, Koirpurwa, Station Road, Buxar, Police Station – Buxar, District – Buxar, Lab Incharge, Department of Botany, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar 6 Sheojee Dubey, son of late Kapildeo Dubey, resident of village – Jarigawan, Police Station – Pandey Patti, Buxar, District – Buxar, Lab Incharge, Department of Botany, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar 7 Lal Bachan Singh, son of late Sheo Murat Singh, resident of village – Dubauli, Police Station – Buxar, District – Buxar, Lab Incharge, Department of Zoology, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar 8 Jai Prakash, son of Sri Kamla Prasad, resident at New Chowk Buxar, Police Station – Buxar, District – Buxar, Lab Incharge, Department of Physics, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar 9 Bijay Bahadur Singh, son of late Ramjee Singh, resident of village – Mathila, Police Station – Koran Sarai, District – Buxar, Lab Incharge, Department of Physics, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar 10 Rajesh Kumar Thakur, son of late Vinod Kumar Thakur, resident of village – Shasan, P S – Hasanpur, District – Samastipur - Petitioner Versus 1 The State of Bihar 2 The Principal Secretary, Human Resources Development Department (Education), Government of Bihar, New Secretariat (Bikas Bhawan), Patna 3 The Director, Higher Education Department, Government of Bihar, New Secretariat (Bikas Bhawan), Patna 4 The Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara through its Registrar 5 The Vice Chancellor, Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara 6 The Registrar, Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara 7 The Finance Officer, Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara 8 The Principal, Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar - Respondents ----------- 10 30.03.2011 An I A has been filed for substitution of petitioner No 10 who has died during pendency of this application being I A No 2353 of 2 2011. Heard with the consent of parties for final disposal of the writ application itself at this stage. I A No 2353 of 2011 is allowed. The name of petitioner No 10 is deleted and is substituted by his eldest son Rajesh Kumar Thakur who has been authorised to pursue the writ petition. All the writ petitioners are Lab Incharge in Maharshi Vishwamitra College, Buxar, a constituent College of Veer Kunwar Singh Univrsity, Ara. Pursuant to an advertisement issued by the University and orders of the Vice Chancellor of the University, petitioners were appointed Lab Incharge in various Departments of the said College. Petitioners have been working for more than 20 years on the said post as asserted by them and not denied by the University. They have now filed this writ application claiming that they are entitled to be redesignated as Demonstrators with all consequential benefits which would include promotion as Lecturer subject to their having the requisite qualification for the same. Mr Rajendra Prasad Singh, learned Senior Counsel submits that this relief, as is being sought by the petitioners, is fully covered by a decision of this Court in the case of Laliteshwar Mishra “Lalitesh” & Others –Versus- The State of Bihar & Others and analogous cases being CWJC No 1377 of 2010 and analogous cases decided on 21.09.2010. It may also be noted here that Veer Kunwar Singh University was also a party to those batch of writ petitions. On the other hand, Shri Vinay Kirti Singh, learned counsel appearing for the Veer Kunwar Singh University submits that the 3 petitioners cannot get the benefit of that judgment inasmuch as in view of the counter affidavit, their very appointment is not legal and they can have no claim to the post in question. Strange as it is, this is the counter affidavit of the University as sworn by the Law Officer of the University and in terms, it challenges the validity of the appointment as made with the approval of the Vice Chancellor of the University itself. I have my serious doubts whether such a plea is available to the respondents to challenge their own action. Be that as it may, the said plea is based on what is stated in paragraph-5 of the counter affidavit which is quoted hereunder : “That it is stated that the petitioners were appointed against the Staffing pattern and till date the post has not been sanctioned by the State Government under the provision of the Bihar State Universities Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as the Act).” Mr Rajendra Prasad Singh rightly pointed out that the only defence of the University is that though, as per staffing pattern, the posts were available, they were not sanctioned and, as such, the appointment of petitioners was on non-sanctioned post. To the question of the Court that if their appointments were thus, held to be bad by the University why was the appointment made by the University and approved by the Vice Chancellor and why they have not been dismissed so far, these questions remain unanswered by the State or the University. It is urged that their appointments being irregular, they cannot claim parity with others in the matter of being designated as Demonstrators with consequential benefits. I have noted these facts only to reject them. University has fairly 4 accepted that their appointment was in accordance with the staffing pattern though the staffing pattern required their positions, they were not sanctioned. The answer to this problem is given by the Full Bench of this Court in the case of Brij Kishore Singh –Versus- State of Bihar since reported in 1997 (1) PLJR 509. This Court held in the said decision that once a College is permitted to be established and there being a staffing pattern then, to the extent of staffing pattern, the post would be deemed to be sanctioned. It is clear that this is the understanding of the University as well otherwise the University itself would not have advertised the post and appointed the petitioners with the approval of the Vice Chancellor himself. That being so, it does not lie in the mouth of the University to challenge the validity of its own action and the validity of petitioners’ appointment. That hurdle having been crossed, for the purposes of the present litigation, it will have to be deemed that the petitioners were regularly appointed as Lab Incharge. Once that position is arrived at then in view of the judgment of this Court in the case of Laliteshwar Mishra “Lalitesh” (supra), the result and the relief follows. There being no other distinction. Accordingly, having heard the parties, in view of the facts and circumstances as noted above, the writ petition is allowed in the same terms as in the case of Laliteshwar Mishra “Lalitesh” (supra) with all consequential benefits including payment of salary and its arrears as such. M.E.H./ (Navaniti Prasad Singh)