JUDGMENT :

AMRESHWAR PRATAP SAHI, J.

1. C.W.J.C. No. 5129 of 2009 and the connected writ petition C.W.J.C. No. 18039 of 2008 raise the same issue simultaneously in view of the order of remand by the Apex Court dated 6th January, 2016 in Civil Appeal No. 4273 of 2014 and Civil Appeal No. 4274 of 2014. The other connected matters being linked with the same legal issue have also been tagged along with these two writ petitions and have been heard simultaneously. We have heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the appellants in the respective cases for the private individuals contesting their claims and the learned Advocate General for the State of Bihar on behalf of the respondents in the two writ petitions and on behalf of the appellant in L.P.A. No. 307 of 2016 and L.P.A. No. 1210 of 2010.

2. A dispute arose with regard to the equivalence of Graduate qualification which was claimed to be possessed by the two sets of writ-petitioners in the above noted writ petitions contending that they possess the degree of Sahityalankar from the Hindi Vidya Peeth, Deoghar which is equivalent to a Graduate degree and, therefore, they were entitled for the employment being claimed by them. In both the cases the selection and appointment is for the post of Librarian in an Institution governed by the provisions of the Bihar Zila Parishad Madhyamik Evam Uchchtar Madhyamik Shikshak Niyojan Evam Seva Sharten Niyamavali, 2006.

3. These two writ petitions were allowed by a Division Bench of this Court in the decision Sanjay Kumar vs. State of Bihar, (2009) 4 PLJR 1038. The direction issued by the High Court was to re-do the selection process and consider the candidature of the petitioners preferably within a period of three months.

4. Questioning the correctness of the said judgment, two Civil Appeals were preferred by the State of Bihar before the Apex Court being Civil Appeal Nos. 4273 of 2014 and 4274 of 2014 that were ultimately allowed and the matter was remitted back to the High Court vide judgment dated 6th January, 2016. The judgment being short and brief is extracted herein-under:-

<

>"These appeals have been filed challenging the common impugned order dated 17.11.2009 passed by the Patna High Court allowing the writ petitions in CWJC Nos. 5129/2009 and 18039/2009 filed by the respondents herein and directing the appellant-State of Bihar to redo the entire selection process for the post of Librarian considering the case of the respondents also and further restraining the State from issuing appointment letters to other selected candidates.

2. Brief facts giving rise to these appeals are as under:-

State of Bihar framed Bihar District Council, Secondary and Higher Secondary Teacher (Employment and Service Conditions) Manual 2006 under Article 243G and Section 73 read with Section 146 of Bihar State Panchayat Raj Act, 2006. Rule 4(k) (vii) (a) of the said Rules was amended in 2008. The said amendment prescribes an essential qualification for appointments of teachers and librarians in the schools and also regulating appointments. As per amended Rule 4 for appointment as teachers/librarians, the candidates must possess the graduation degree from any recognized university with minimum 45% marks. An advertisement bearing No. 11/employment-1-13/91(Part-II)-1337 dated 25.08.2008 was issued by Government of Bihar, Human Resources and Development Department for appointment to the post of Librarian and Teacher in different schools under Zila Parishad and Nagar Nikaya in the State of Bihar. The said advertisement specifically referred to Recruitment Rules 2006 although the qualification or eligibility criteria was not specifically mentioned.

3. Respondents herein applied for the posts of Librarian. After the advertisement was issued, the Department issued order No. 11/Ma.1-01/2008 on 27.08.2008 containing exhaustive list of twenty eight colleges/universities/degrees that were not then recognized by the Government of Bihar for the purpose of the Recruitment