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2018 Supreme(Jhk) 2549
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
Mr. Dr. S.N. Pathak, J.
Bal Mohan Prasad - Appellant
Versus
State Of Jharkhand - Respondent
W.P(S) Nos. 921, 2623, and 5231 of 2011 with W.P(S) Nos. 971, 1309, 1872, 2224, 2262, 2341, 2457, 2468, 2546, 2819, 28, 2882, 2885, 2905, 29, 2933, 2967, 2996, 3290, 3459, 3461, 3600, 3605, 3670, 3671, 3678, 3679, 3680, 3681, 3682, 3684, 3733, 3749, 3793, 3836, 3990, 4091, 4094, 4130, 416, 4224, 4352, 4418, 4424, 4518, 4565, 4677, 4692, 4704, 4734, 4746, 4747, 4748, 4752, 4754, 4806, 4812, 4856, 4862, 4875, 4879, 4880, 4881, 4882, 4947, 4969, 4974, 4976, 4977, 4978, 4979, 4986, 4987, 4988, 4989, 4991, 4992, 4993, 5022, 5056, 5095, 5096, 5097, 5100, 5101, 5102, 5104, 5105,5276, 5361, 5474, 5478, 5536, 5537, 5538, 5539, 5543, 5544, 5756, 5814, 5821, 5893, 5897, 5908, 5909, 5910, 5975, 6088, 6540, 6550, 6569, 6589, 6637, 6661, 6735, 6765, 6769, 683, 7007, 7081, 7400, 1053, 750, 757, 7712, 7744, 848, 859, 970 and 7401 of 2017 with W.P (S) 1098, 2537, 4104, 4157, 6532, 6546, 6567, 6569, 6595 and 6597 of 2013 with W.P(S)' Nos. 1118, 1200, 4725 and 6240 of 2010 with W.P (S) Nos. 1558, 230, 2433, 2627, 3737, 420, 4591, 469, 5175 and 656 of 2015 with W.P (S) Nos. 2212, 2333, 2429, 2503, 3116, 3983, 4304, 4399, 4565, 5470, 5472, 5480, 5481, 5482, 5483, 5484, 5485, 5494, 5512, 5517, 5518, 5541, 5699, 5700, 5784, 5787, 5868, 5877, 5886, 5897, 5901, 5903, 5904, 6064, 6058, 6331, 6332, 6333, 7099, 7229, 7262, 7300, 7303, 7324, 7354, 7410, 7429, 7439, 7453, 7463, 7484, 7512 and 768 of 2016 with W.P (S) Nos. 4919, 4920, 7403 and 7718 of 2012 with W.P (S) Nos. 3433, 4764, 6258, 6260, and 6261 of 2014
Decided On : 05-09-2018
Jay Prakash Jha, Sr. Advocate M/s. Shubha Jha, Saurabh Shekhar, Arbind Kumar Jha, Bijay Kumar Pandey, Sanjay Kumar Pandey, Anjana Kumari, Gopal Nand Mishra, Lalit Kumar Singh, Subodh Kumar Pandey, Abhijit Kumar Singh, P.K. Dubey, Gautam Kumar Singh, Ganesh Ram, Rishi Raj Verma, Nagmani Tiwary, Manoj Kr. Dash and Govind Ray Karan, Advocates, for the Appellants; Jai Prakash, AAG Ms. Chaitali Ch. Sinha, AC to AAG Mr. Himanshu Kumar Mehta, AAG Mr. Kanchan Kumari, AC to AAG Mr. Shreshtha Mehta, AC to AAG Mr. D.K. Dubey, Sr. SC-I Mr. L.C.N. Shahedeo, GP-IV Mr. V.K. Prasad, SC (L&C) Mr. Vineet Prakash, aC to SC (L&C) Mr. Manoj Kumar, SC (Mines) Mr. Anil Kumar, AC to SC (Mines) Mr. Bhawesh Kumar, sC-II Mr. Ravi Kumar, AC to SC-II Mr. Atanu Banerjee, GA Mr. Kaustav Panda, AC to GA Mr. S. Akhtar, GA-III Mrs. Richa Sanchita, SC-V, for the Respondents
Headnote:
PROJECT GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOLS - ABSORPTION OF SERVICES - TEACHERS AND NON-TEACHING STAFF - RECOGNITION/ REGULARIZATION - ACT-SECTION REFERRED: BIHAR SECONDARY EDUCATION BOARD ACT - ISSUE: Absorption of services of teachers and non-teaching staff of Project Girls' High Schools, recognition/regularization of their services, payment of consequential benefits and arrears of salary w.e.f. 01.01.1989. RATIO DECIDENDI: (i) Untrained teachers have to be absorbed in the regular services though initially in the untrained scale but with a condition to complete their teachers' training course/B.Ed. course within a stipulated time period to be decided by the Govt. and on successful completion of the said course they may be granted the benefits of trained scale. (ii) The post of ''other teachers'' (minority language, music, arts, commerce, anyone amongst all on the basis of seniority) has to be accepted as 9th post in the MANAK MANDAL. Further, teachers appointed prior to coming into effect of the letter dated 04.02.1989 and duly appointed by the Managing Committee of the Schools concerned shall be taken care of by giving necessary relaxation as has been done during the absorption of teachers in the 1st phase. (iii) The cases where schools are to be closed, the teachers shall be regularized/absorbed by making adjustments in other Government schools on regular basis. (iv) Such Non-teaching staff, whose cases have been rejected by Alam Committee, on the ground that subsequent Govt. appointees were also deputed/appointed on the same post, their services would be absorbed on the same sanctioned post, and the deputies would be adjusted / repatriated to their original cadre. (v) The Alam Committee's report will not come into the way of absorption of employees, if such cases have been rejected by Alam Committee on the principles contrary to the directions of Hon'ble Patna High Court (FB) passed in Project Uchcha Vidyalaya Shikshak Sangh (Supra.), confirmed by Hon'ble Apex Court and against the principles as being laid down by this Hon'ble Court in the paragraph-17, as also against the directions of the Co-ordinate Benches of this Hon'ble Court in other writ petitions in individual cases. (vi) All female category teachers and teachers belonging to Harijan, Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe candidates, who are untrained, shall be absorbed. (vii) In some of the writ petitions there is impugned order of rejection of their candidature for absorption. It is made clear that in all such cases fresh consideration in light of direction given here-in-above shall be made, without being prejudiced or influenced by the earlier order of impugned rejection. FINAL DECISION: Writ petitions allowed. The Principal Secretary of the School Education and Literacy Department, Govt. of Jharkhand, Ranchi is directed to come-out with a corrigendum, taking into consideration para-18 of the judgment passed in this case and take all necessary steps for consideration of left over cases of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the Project Girls' High School for their regularization and absorptions and also for payment of their salary with all consequential benefits. The entire exercise to be completed within two months from the date of receipt/ production of a copy of this order. MAIN LEGAL POINT: The untrained teachers have to be absorbed in the regular services though initially in the untrained scale but with a condition to complete their teachers' training course/B.Ed. course within a stipulated time period to be decided by the Govt. and on successful completion of the said course they may be granted the benefits of trained scale. CATEGORY: SERVICE LAW SUB-CATEGORY: ABSORPTION OF SERVICES
JUDGMENT
S.N. Pathak, J. - As common question is involved in all these writ petitions, they have been taken up together and are decided by this common order. These batch of cases relate to Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff of Project Girls'' High Schools. The petitioners herein mainly seek appropriate directions to the concerned authorities to recognize/ regularize their services by the Government following the take-over of the private schools where the petitioners had been working and are discharging their duties or have retired after attaining the age of retirement.
2. The petitioners, before this Court, in the present matters, are teaching and nonteaching staff of different Project Girls High Schools (now falling within the territorial jurisdiction of Jharkhand), which were opened and selected as second phase schools of the state government scheme of 1981 and these petitioners have prayed for absorption of their services and further for making payment of consequential benefits and arrears of salary w.e.f. 01.01.1989. These petitioners have been performing their duties since last 30 years against vacant and sanctioned posts, without any salary, in anticipation of their due absorption in regular establishment and hence have moved this court for redressal of their grievances, when no action was taken on part of the Respondent state. These Project Schools had been created under the Scheme launched by the then State of Bihar for the purpose of enhancement of literacy in poverty stricken and illiterate areas of the State. ''Project Schools'' are the name given to the Schools established by the Government under the Scheme aimed at providing in each block of the State, at least four Secondary/ High Schools out of which one must be a ''Girls'' School''. These schools, as per the Scheme of the Government, would be established by taking over private schools which had been granted permission for establishment or was at least a proposed school in terms of the provisions of the Bihar Secondary Education Board Act.
3. Before dealing with the issues involved, it is important to give a brief history of the matter. The issues involved have been continuously litigated over a period of almost three decades, before Hon''ble Patna High Court, as also before Hon''ble Apex Court and several other matters have also been decided by the coordinate Benches of this Hon''ble Court in different cases which were preferred by similarly situated litigants individually. The brief fact, as can be culled out gathered from the pleadings made in the writ petitions and submissions made by the learned counsels of both the sides, is summarized as under:-
(i) The erstwhile State of Bihar, in order to eradicate illiteracy, specifically in backward areas of the State and also in order to provide opportunity of education to the girl students, took a policy decision to establish Project Girls High Schools, one in each Block of every Districts of the State. It was decided vide office order as contained in memo no. 1115 dated 27.05.1981 that a total of 650 schools were to be opened in a phased manner, which was decided to be done as follows:-
(a) 1981-82 - 150 schools - 1st phase Project Girls'' High Schools
(b) 1982-83 - 200 schools - 2nd phase Project Girls'' High Schools
(c) 1983-84 - 200 schools - 3rd phase Project Girls'' High Schools
(d) 1984-85 - 100 schools - 4th phase Project Girls'' High Schools
A total of 150 schools were duly opened in the 1st phase, but second phase schools could not be opened in 1982-83. Functional schools were, however, selected in the year 1984-85, in view of letter dated 25.01.1985, by a Three Men Committee of the State Government. The present matter relates to these cases, which will be referred to hereinafter as 2nd phase schools, for the sake of brevity.
There were 300 schools in the 2nd phase, of which 75 schools were established by the local people and taken over by the Government directly, in pursuance to letter no. 108 dated 12.02.198
