This judgment and order is to govern approximately 819 Letters Patent Appeals and Writ Petitions which have been heard as analogous cases because the concerned employees in all these cases whether they are impleaded as petitioners or respondents belonged to cadre of Class III or Class IV employees under the Health Department, Government of Bihar. The services of these employees have been terminated on alleged illegalities/irregularities in their appointment.

2. On behalf of the affected employees and on behalf of the State arguments stretching over several dates have been advanced covering important issues of law such as when an appointment may be treated as illegal or when it should be termed only as irregular capable of being regularised by the State on relevant considerations.

3. According to the case of the affected employees, they have been appointed on sanctioned vacant posts, and, they are qualified persons, to hold respective posts in Class III and Class IV service in the Health Department. It is, further, contended that most of them have been regularly appointed and all of them have been paid salary, increment, and other service benefits, including, housing facility, medical reimbursement, etc. They have been also, promoted and transferred from time to time. Some of them have also been retired by now and for a long spell of more than almost two decades in most of the cases no grievance or complaint came to be made or no enquiry came to be undertaken against them and, therefore, their termination without following proper procedure or observing the principle of natural justice cannot be sustained.

4. The submissions also covered the issue of equity on basis whereof it was submitted on behalf of the affected employees that since most of them have rendered more than 10 years of service before they were removed, they should have been regularised and retained on humanitarian grounds including equity in their favour. It was also highlighted and submitted on behalf of the employees that the State has accepted in its submissions that approximately 40 thousand Class III and Class IV posts are vacant throughout the State under the Health Department of the State Government alone. Hence, it has been submitted that not only equity but even the interest of the Department warrants reconsideration of cases of the affected employees by reappraising as to whether their appointments are actually illegal or only irregular and fit to be regularised.

5. On the other hand, on behalf of the State it was submitted and argued that the affected employees have been terminated from service because in most of the cases, the entry was through back-door methods in violation of requirements of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India; in many cases, the entry was allegedly through forged and fabricated letters of appointment or through transfer orders without actual appointment and in some cases the appointments were without availability of sanctioned posts made by the authorities not competent to appoint.

6. After marathon arguments, fortunately the differences on issues of law were greatly reconciled because the parties by consensus agreed that in view of overall factual profile of these cases the recent judgment of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the case of Secretary, State of Karnataka & Ors. Vs. Uma Devi & Ors., reported in 2006(2) PLJR (SC) 363 shall govern the cases of the affected employees and the legal issues shall be treated to have been settled by the law declared by the Constitution Bench in the aforesaid judgment. In view of such consensus on the part of lawyers appearing for the affected employees and the counsel for the State, the task of deciding these Letters Patent Appeals and Writ Petitions has become considerably easy because the learned counsel for the affected employees accepted that the Letters Patent Appeals as well as the Writ Petitions be disposed of with a direction to the Government of Bihar in the D