Case: Rameshwar Prasad Vs. State of Bihar and Others

1. This petition under Article 32 has been filed against the order of the Governor of Bihar accepting recommendations of the High Court and superseding the petitioner Rameshwar Prasad by promoting other subordinate Judges as Additional District Judge

Court's reasoning:
There is, how- ever, abundant material on the record to show that the case of the petitioner was fully considered by the High Court and he was not considered fit for promotion by the High Court, hence his case was not recommended for promotion as Additional District Judge. In this view of the matter it is manifest that Article 16 cannot be violated because the petitioners case for promotion was fully considered by the High Court and the Government and then it was decided not to promote him. All that Art. 16 requires is that the case of employees similarly situate and eligible for promotion must be considered before others are promoted. If it was established that the petitioners case was not considered at all and persons junior to him were promoted with- out any reason, then something could be said in support of the petitioners case. It would appear from the affidavit filed by the High Court that the Government considered the case of the petitionerThus the petitioner and other Sub-Judges not being similarly situate as being of equal merit the question of discrimination or infraction of Article 14 of the Constitution also does not arise. At any rate, since the High Court is the best Judge of the performance of its officers and if the High Court was not satisfied about the suitability of the petitioner having regard to his past record, for promotion, Art. 16 is not attracted and this Court would not, therefore, interfere atIn these circumstances, we cannot take any notice of such an allegation.