IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.11620 of 1996 1. Shiva Shankar Sharma, son of late Thakur Prasad Sharma, resident of Village Kamtaul (Kote), P.S. Kamtaul, District- Darbhanga at present Additional District and Sessions Judge, Patna. 2. Binoy Kumar Sinha, son of late Shiva Shankar Sahay, resident of Mohalla Tilak Nagar, Station Road, Begusarai, P.S. Begusarai Town, District-Begusarai. 3. Alok Kr. Sinha, son of late Rabindra Prasad, Nawal Bhawan, Kadam Kuan, Patna at present Additional Judicial Commissioner, Ranchi. 4. Hari Bhushan Prasad Sinha, son of late Keola Prasad Sinha, resident of Mohalla Khatagargi, Hajipur (Vaishali)- at present Additional District Judge, Buxar. 5. Devi Dayal Prasad, son of late Thakur Prasad, resident of Karimchak, P.S. Chapra Town, District Saran-at present District & Sessions Judge, Ara (Bhojpur). 6. Ramnath Ram Mahto, son of late Darbari Mahto, resident of Toyer, P.O. Toyer, P.S. Gola District-Hazaribagh, at present District & Sessions Judge, Dhanbad. 7. Shyam Kishore Mishra, son of late Bhawani Shankar Mishra, resident of Lalu Chowk, Bhagalpur, at present Additional Judicial Commissioner, Lohardagga. 8. Ram Bilash Gupta, son of Shri Deep Narayan Bhagat, resident of Sambalpur, P.S. & District-Khagaria, at present Additional District Judge, Dhanbad. 9. Sitaram Pandey, son of Shri Ram Niwas Pandey, resident of Village- & P.O. Sikraul, District-Bhojpur (Arrah). 10. Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav, son of late Kirti Narayan Yadav, resident of Dumra Cantt, P.S. Sitamarhi Cantt. District-Sitamarhi at present Additional District Judge, Banka ----------- Petitioners. Versus 1. The State of Bihar. 2. Legal Rememberancer-cum-Secretary, Department of Law, Government of Bihar, Patna. 3. Registrar General, Patna High Court, Patna. 4. D. Ganesh Rao Patnaik, Joint Registrar, Patna High Court. 5. Ajay Kumar Srivastava, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Sasaram. 6. Kumar Ganesh Dutt, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Giridih. 2 7. Rukmini Kant Choudhary, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Hilsa. 8. Awadh Kishore Singh Chauhan, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Darbhanga 9. Sudhansu Kumar Lal, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Patna. 10. Girindra Kishroe Verma, Additional District and Sessions Judge, Jamshedpur. 11. Shyam Kishore Sharma, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Begusarai (dismissed as against him). 12. Dharnidhar Jha, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Sitamarhi. 13. Rakesh Ranjan Prasad, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Munger. 14. Kamla Prasad, Additional District & Sessions judge, Purnea. 15. Rama Shankar Prasad, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Joint Secretary, Law Department, Patna. 16. Pradip Kumar Singh, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Munger. 17. Abhijit Sinha, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Chapra (dismissed as against him). 18. Rakeshwar Dayal, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Sahebganj. 19. Hemant Kumar Srivastava, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Sasaram. 20. Prashant Kumar, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Chaibasa. 21. Birendra Singh, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Barh 22. Dilip Kumar Sinha, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Hazaribagh. 23. Akhilesh Chandra, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Bettiah. 24. Pradip Kumar, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Gumla. 25. Ashim Kumar Dutta, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Chaibasa. 26. Madhusudan Singh, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Motihari. 27. Om Prakash Pandey, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Banka. 28. Diwakar Jha, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Khagaria. 3 29. Shri Prakash Rai, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Ranchi (dismissed as against him). 30. Mandhata Singh, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Daltenganj. 31. Gopal Prasad, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Daltenganj. 32. Ramjee Pandey, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Jamui. 33. Binod Mohan Prasad, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Jehanabad. ----- Respondents. --------------- 12. 17.9.2010 Heard Mr. Shiva Shankar Sharma, Mr. Madhuresh Prasad for respondent nos. 4 to 8, 10 to 13, 16 to 21, 25 to 27, and 29 to 32, Mr. Abhinay Raj for respondent no.3, and Mr. Rajendra Narain for respondent no.23. The petitioners are members of the Bihar Superior Judicial Service and seek a direction to the State of Bihar and the Patna High Court to declare that the petitioners senior to 30 directly recruited Additional District and Sessions Judge. We have perused the materials on record and considered the submissions of learned counsel for the parties. The petitioners were, at the relevant point of time, members of the Bihar Superior Judicial Service. The Patna High Court on the administrative side had taken steps for direct recruitment from the open market to the Bihar Superior Judicial Service 4 (entry level). Respondent nos. 4 to 33 are the successful candidates who joined Bihar Superior Judicial Service. Thereafter the usual issue of inter-se seniority between promotees and direct recruits arose. The matter was intervened by another unforeseen circumstance. In view of the provisions of the Bihar Reorganization Act, 2000, the present State of Jharkhand was carved out of the erstwhile undivided State of Bihar. Consequently, some of the petitioners as well as some of the private respondents were allocated to the present State of Jharkhand. Different decisions about their inter-se seniority had taken by the Patna High Court, as well as Jharkhand High Court, on the administrative side. The matter ultimately travelled to the Supreme Court and it was resolved in the case of D Ganesh Rao Patnaik Vrs. State of Jharkhand and others, A.I.R.2005 SC 4321, whereby the mode and manner of determination of inter-se seniority followed by the Patna High Court was upheld. The issues raised in the present writ petition are covered by the judgment of the Supreme Court and, therefore, nothing survives for consideration. It is relevant to state that some of 5 the parties herein were also parties before the Supreme Court. For example, respondent no.4 herein was appellant no.1 before the Supreme Court. We do not find any merit in this writ petition. It is accordingly dismissed. Vinay/ ( S. K. Katriar,J. ) (Birendra Prasad Verma, J.)