Aftab Alam, J.

1. The question that arises for consideration in these two cases is whether the action of the State Government in retiring the two petitioners from service, compulsorily in terms of rule 74(b) (ii) of the Bihar Service Code, remains void and inoperative because payment of three months pay and allowance in lieu of the notice was made to the petitioners long after the dates of their retirement as specified in their respective notices.

2. The petitioner in C.W.J.C.No.9989/97 assails the order of his compulsory retirement from service solely on the ground that the payment of three months pay and allowance was made to him after the date of his retirement as specified in the retirement order. The petitioner in C.W.J.C.No.11689/97 assails his order of retirement, apart from the above ground, on some other additional grounds as well but the additional grounds are mostly decorative and the fate of the two writ petitions would ultimately depend on the answer to the question as framed above.

3. The two petitioners (one each in these two writ petitions) were members of the Subordinate Judicial Service of this State. Shri Krishna Mohan Srivastava, petitioner in C.W.J.C.No