Judgment

G.B. Pattanaik, J.-This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 11th September, 1989, passed by Patna High Court in Civil Writ Juris­diction case No. 7543 of 1988. The appellant had filed the Writ Peti­tion for a mandamus of the State to count his services for the period 19.10.1971 to 21.4.1978 as Resident Medical Officer in Durbangha Medical College towards his teaching experience for the purpose of consideration of his appointment as Assistant Professor as well as Associate Professor. The appellant had alleged that he was appointed as a Civil Assistant Surgeon on 7.7.1962 and was thereafter posted as Demonstrator in the Physiology Department at Durbangha Medical College which was a Private Medical College. On 13.1.1971, from the Department of Physiology he was transferred to the Department of Paediatrics and was posted on supernumerary duty as a Medical Officer in the Depart­ment of Paediatrics in the said Medical College. In October 1971 he was posted as a Resident Medical Officer in the same Department of Paediatrics in Darbangha Medical College by order dated 16.10.1971 and he continued as such till April 21, 1978. The post of Resident Medical Officer on Supernumerary duty stood abolished in different Medical Colleges w.e.f. 22.4.1978. The appellant was then appointed as Regis­trar in the said Medical College in the year 1979 and then was ap­pointed as Assistant Professor in the Depart­ment of Paediatrics on 28.5.1986 which post he was holding on the date he filed the applica­tion in Patna High Court seeking the relief, as already stated. The grievance of the appellant was that if his services rendered as Resi­dent Medical Officer from 19.10.1971 till 21.4.1978 would have been counted as teaching experience then he would have been appointed as Associate Professor and that not having been done his rights under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution have been infringed.

2. The State Government took the stand that the post of Resident Medical Officer is not a teaching post and on the other hand it was a post of supernumerary duty and as such, the services rendered against the said post cannot be counted as teaching experience in view of the Circular dated 7.9.1973. It was also contended that the services rendered against a regular teaching post like Registrar can only be counted as teaching experience and that also only for a period of three years. As such no complaint can be made for not taking into account the services rendered by the appellant from October 1971 till April 1978 as Resident Medical Officer towards his teaching experience inasmuch as it is contrary to the Government Circular dated 7.9.1973. The High Court by the impugned judgment construed the aforesaid Gov­ernment Circular and came to hold that the period of the appellants’ services from October 1971 to April 1978 as Resident Medical Officer against the Supernumerary post in the Department of Paediatrics cannot be counted as teaching experience. The High Court further came to hold that the said Government Circular dated 7.9.1973 cannot be held to be violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. When it was pointed out on behalf of the appellant that the Supreme Court has disposed of a similar matter in a case of Dr. Ram Janma Singh1, and has directed that the judgment of the Supreme Court in Dr. Asim Kumar Bose’s case2, should be followed, the learned Judges of Patna High Court examined the judgment in Dr. Ram Janma Singh’s case and came to hold that the relevant Government Circular dated 7.9.1973, had not been brought to the notice of Their Lordships in Ram Janma Singh’s case. To find out whether in Dr. Ram Janma Singh’s case the Government Circular was actually brought to the notice of the Court or not we called for the records of the said proceedings and on scrutiny we find that the said Circular has not been brought on record. With these findings the Writ Petition having been dismissed the appellant has preferred this appeal.

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