IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.1164 of 2002 Raghu Raj Bihari Sharan, son of Ram Chandra Dass, Resident of village- Katarmala, P.O. Katarmala, P.S. Goraul, District- Vaishali, Bihar, at present Assistant Teacher, Laxmi Narayan High School, Bhagwanpur, Vaishali, Bihar. ……….. Petitioner Versus 1.The State Of Bihar, through the Commissioner- cum-Secretary, Secondary Education, New Secretariat, Patna 2.The Director, Secondary Education, New Secretariat, Patna 3.The Deputy Director, Education, Tirhut Pramandal, Muzaffarpur 4.The District Education Officer, Vaishali 5.The Headmaster-cum-Drawing Disbursing Officer, Laxmi Narayan High School, Bhagwanpur, Vaishali 6.The Headmaster, Adarsh High School, Sarai, Vaishali ……….. Respondents. ----------- For the Petitioner : Mr.Vijay Kumar,Adv. For the State : M/s Sunil Kumar Mandal,S.C.15 and Bipin Kumar,Adv. ----------- 4. 07/01/2010 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the State. In sum and substance, in this writ application, petitioner has challenged the orders by which first time bound promotion granted to him with effect from 1.4.1984 has been withdrawn and orders have been passed to recover the amount excess paid to him on account of grant of such time bound promotion. Petitioner’s case is that he was appointed in the School on 3.1.1972 and the school was granted permission for establishment - 2 - with effect from 29.3.1974 and permanent recognition was granted to the school with effect from 19.4.1980. Therefore, relying upon the letter of the Department dated 1.3.1977, annexed as Annexure-3, it is contended that the petitioner’s services had to be counted for grant of first time bound promotion with effect from the date the school was granted permission for establishment i.e. 29.3.1974 and thus he was rightly granted first time bound promotion and the orders issued by the respondents are bad in law. A counter affidavit has been filed in the case and the respondents have brought on record another letter of the Department dated 7.10.1994, annexed as Annexure-A to the counter affidavit, to contend that the policy decision of the State Government was changed later on in the light of 1983 Rules and subsequent Government orders, and it was decided that for the purposes of promotion etc., services of the teachers would be counted from the date of grant of recognition to the school. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the said letter (Annexure-A) had - 3 - come in 1994 whereas petitioner was granted first time bound promotion in 1990 with effect from 1.4.1984 itself. Therefore, this letter will not be applicable in his case. From the reading of last paragraph of the said letter (Annexure-A), it is apparent that it has retrospective effect and has been made applicable to all the cases in which time bound promotion had been granted earlier also and thus it has overriding effect over the earlier letters and orders issued contrary to the same. Therefore, in view of this letter of the Department dated 7.10.1994 (Annexure-A), action taken by the respondents cannot be held to be erroneous or illegal. However, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner was granted benefits of time bound promotion without any misrepresentation or fraud on his part and only in terms of earlier decision of the Government which has been subsequently changed. Therefore, petitioner is not liable to refund the payments made to him in view of earlier order passed by the authorities which, at that point of time, was in accordance with law. He has pointed out - 4 - that in the circumstances the order of recovery from petitioner was stayed by this Court by order dated 14.2.2002 itself. In the circumstances, while upholding the orders of the respondent in revising grant of time bound promotion to the petitioner, this Court restrains the respondents from making any recovery from the petitioner of any amount excess paid on the basis of earlier orders passed in respect of first time bound promotion with effect from 1.4.1984. With the above observations and directions, this writ application is disposed of. Pradeep/ (J. N. Singh, J.)