IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.13245 of 2008 Sabita Kumari, W/o Sri Jaiprakash Singh, resident of village Panchgachhia, P.S. Panchgachhia, P.S. Bihra, District Saharsa……………………………………Petitioner Versus 1. The State Of Bihar. 2. The Principal Secretary, Primary and Adult Education Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. 3. The Director, Primary Education, Govt. of Bihar, New Secretariat, Patna. 4. The District Magistrate, Saharsa, District Saharsa. 5. The District Superintendent of Education, Saharsa, District Saharsa. 6. The Block Development Officer, Sattar Katteya, District Saharsa. 7. The Block Education Extension Officer, Sattar Katteya, District Saharsa. 8. Smt.Punam Singh, W/o Sri Kaushlendra Singh, resident of village Panchgachhia, P.O. Panchgachhia, P.S. Bihra, District Saharsa……………………………………………………………………….Respondents -------- 3 14.11.2011 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner as well as learned counsel for the State. It appears that petitioner’s appointment as Shiksha Mitra was challenged by respondent no.8 in this Court and the matter was remitted back for consideration by the authorities. After consideration the Block Development Officer has passed orders as contained in Annexure-18 in which he has held that three candidates having equal merits, one who was older in age, had to be appointed and not the petitioner. Petitioner is aggrieved by the said order. 2 The grievance of the petitioner is that before issuing the impugned order, Block Development Officer has not given any notice to the petitioner or any opportunity to defend her case. On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondents submits that petitioner was given due notice and opportunity to be heard in the matter but she failed to file her reply to the show cause notice. Be that as it may, now the Block Development Officer does not have power to consider the matter afresh in view of the amendments in Rule 18 of the Rules. In the circumstances, petitioner is granted liberty to move the concerned Appellate Authority in the matter through a proper representation for consideration of her case. If she does so within four weeks from today, the Appellate Authority shall issue notice to the concerned parties, call for the original records from the concerned Panchayat and shall decide the matter in accordance with law on merits without feeling any impediment from the impugned order of the Block Development Officer for 3 consideration of the matter on its merits. It is made clear that for consideration of the matter on merits, the order of the Block Development Officer shall be treated as kept in abeyance. The Appellate Authority shall pass final order preferably within three months from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. This writ application is disposed of with the aforesaid observations and directions. BT (J. N. Singh, J.)