1. Heard counsel for the appellants and counsel for the first respondent. When the matter came up for admission, since the contesting respondent had appeared, the appeal itself was finally heard with the consent of the parties and it is being disposed off finally by this judgment.

2. The State of Jharkhand and its officers, the respondents in the writ petition, are the appellants in this appeal. The writ petitioner, the contesting respondent, challenged the order dated 20.11.1998 issued by the Joint Director, Industries, Government of Bihar, Patna by which the time bound promotion at the second stage granted to her earlier was cancelled on finding that he had not completed the requisite number of years of service before her retirement. Her case in the writ petition while challenging that order, was only that she had been granted such time bound promotion while in service and she having retired, the same could not be revoked retrospectively. The appellants pointed out that though the writ petitioner had earlier joined service on 16.6.1959, her services were discontinued from 1.5.1968 to 14.3.1972, for a period of 3 years 10 months 13 days. Thereafter she was re-employed only on