JUDGMENT :

DHANANJAYA Y. CHANDRACHUD, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal arises from a judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Jharkhand by which a direction that was issued by the learned Single Judge to the State of Bihar to issue orders “for accepting the first respondent as its employee on transfer from the State of Jharkhand” has been upheld.

3. The first respondent was appointed as an Ayurvedic Medical Officer on 26 May 1989 in the erstwhile State of Bihar prior to its reorganization. On 15 November 2000, the Bihar Re-organisation Act resulted in the bifurcation of the erstwhile State into the State of Bihar and the State of Jharkhand. Options were invited from the employees for allocation of their services to either of the resulting States. The first respondent opted for the State of Bihar.

4. The Union government issued certain guidelines on 8 June 2006 which envisaged that even after final allocations, employees could be posted to either of the succeeding States with the mutual consent of both States. On 9 February 2007, the Union government allocated the first respondent to the State of Jharkhand upon which the Government of Bihar in the Department of Welfare issued