The main legal point established in the judgment is the invocation of equity to save even invalid appointments due to the prolonged continuance of the employees in services, emphasizing the need to protect the interest of the public at large and the principles of equity.

Narayan Roy, J.

1. Heard respective Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners and learned Government Pleader No. 1 and learned Standing Counsel No. 1 for the State.

2. All these writ applications have been filed for common cause, as the petitioners have been terminated from their services after serving under the respondents for more than a decade.

3. The facts involved in all these cases are identical, therefore, individual case are not required to be scrutinised separately, and, accordingly, these writ applications have been heard together and are being disposed of by this order.

4. According to the cases of the petitioners, some of them were appointed directly on Class III posts and Class IV posts and some of them were regularised from daily wages to Class IV posts. The majority of the petitioners continued in services for more than 10 years on regular basis, their service books etc. were opened and they were made permanent and some of them were granted time bound promotions. Many of the petitioners are said to have continued to services even for about 20 years. There are case, where the petitioners appointments were doubted by the authorities and inquiries were held from the end of the respective Divisional Commissioners and even their salaries were withheld and on inquiry their appointments were found to be valid and in many of the cases, this Court directed to pay the arrears of salaries, which were withheld pending inquiry.

5. It is contended on behalf of the petitioners that the petitioners now have been terminated at the fag end of their career in most unreasonable and arbitrary manner and since they continued in services for more than a decade, they could not have been terminated. Learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners further submitted that in the facts and circumstances of the case, it would be appropriate for this Court to invoke equity to strike a balance, so that their appointments may be saved.

6. Learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the State, on the contrary, with reference to their counter-affidavits, which have been filed in some of the cases, admitted that the petitioners were appointed illegally without following the procedures laid down in law, and when their appointments were found to be contrary to the provisions of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution they have been terminated. It is further stand of the State that in many of the cases the appointment letters have been found to be forged and many of the petitioners were appointed on non-sanctioned posts and, therefore, the State authority had competence to terminate them. Learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the State, going one step further, submits that the appointments made in violation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution should not be saved by applying equity, as it would amount to allowing the illegality to perpetuate.

7. From the pleadings of the parties, it appears that the writ petitioners were appointed on Class III and Class IV posts in the Health Department and they were posted at different places. In some of the cases, it is noticed that the posts were advertised or the names were called for form the respective Employment Exchanges and pursuant to the applications filed by the petitioners their cases were considered and they were appointed. In some of the cases many of the petitioners were engaged on daily wages and subsequently, they were regularised on direction of the higher authorities by selection committee and some of the petitioners were appointed without advertisement in exigency of works. All these petitioners, thus, continued in services under the respondents for more than a decade and some of them even served for about two decades and now they have been terminated mostly for procedural defects. In some of the cases, it appears that many of the petitioners have been terminated on the ground that they obtained their appointments on strength of fake appointment letters by an authority, who wa