IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.2625 of 2005 NARESH PRASAD PODDAR, son of late Bhuneshwar Poddar, resident of Mohalla – New Sipahi tola, Purnea, Police Station + District – Purnea. ---------------- Petitioner Versus 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR 2. The Commissioner & Secretary, Revenue and Land Reforms Department, Government of Bihar, Old Secretariat, Patna. 3. The Commissioner, Purnea Division, Purnea. 4. The District Magistrate, Purnea. 5. Secretary to Commissioner, Purnea Division, Purnea. 6. Addl. Collector, Purnea. 7. Deputy Collector, Establishment Section, Purnea. 8. Deputy Collector, Nazarat, Purnea. 9. The Treasury Officer, Purnea. 10. The Accountant General, Bihar, Patna. ------------------------------- Respondents ----------- 05. 02.02.2009 Of the two grievances raised by the petitioner in the present writ application one is related to recovery of certain advances which had been made to the petitioner way back in the year 1984 which had not been accounted for almost 10 years. The detail of the so-called recovery is reflected in annexure-2 which the petitioner is seeking quashing. This prayer of the petitioner is rejected because there is no legal infirmity as the matter is of plain accounting and nothing more than that. The other grievance of the petitioner is that a sum of Rs.73,000/- has been recovered from the retiral dues of the petitioner on the ground that he was wrongly given higher pay scale of Rs.5000-8000 without identifying the need-based post before grant of such promotion which was in conflict with Government Resolution No. 660 (F) (2) dated 8.2.1999 and the subsequent clarification in this regard in 2002. Respondents in the counter - 2 - affidavit have taken this reason for the said recovery. Submission of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner is that he has filed a detailed representation way back on 15.6.2004 which is annexure-5 to the writ application before the Collector, Purnea where he has made out a case that he fell within the zone of consideration for the need-based post as some juniors have already been given the benefit of the pay scale. If the authorities had done their exercise and taken into consideration the representation of the petitioner, may be there would have been no occasion for deduction of money, post retirement. Identification of need-based post in terms of the Finance Department’s circular is sine qua non in matters of grant of such promotion by virtue of which petitioner was given higher salary. This was a policy decision taken in light of the proposal of the subsequent Pay Revision Committee. But since this decision in question had not been taken for the petitioner, the Court is inclined to allow the writ application to a limited extent. A direction is issued upon the District Magistrate, Purnea (respondent No.4) that he shall take into consideration the representation of the petitioner contained in annexure-5 or a fresh representation which the petitioner may file in this regard with supporting materials and the District Magistrate will forward his proposal on the findings recorded in this regard to the department concerned for approval or concurrence of the Finance Department. If it is found by such an exercise that petitioner had come within the - 3 - zone of seniority within the need-based post respondents will be obliged to refund the money which has been deducted from the retiral dues of the petitioner or else a speaking order will be passed. The Court expects a final exercise in this regard within a period of six months from the date of communication/production of a copy of this order. The writ application stands disposed of with the above direction. rkp (Ajay Kumar Tripathi, J)