ORDER :

1. Heard Mr. Jitendra Singh, the learned Senior counsel assisted by Ms. Amrita Sinha, the learned vice counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and Mr. Mukesh Kumar Sinha, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent/State.

2. This writ petition has been heard through Video Conferencing in view of the guidelines of the High Court taking into account the situation arising due to COVID-19 pandemic. None of the parties have complained about any technical snag of audio-video and with their consent this matter has been heard.

3. The petitioner has preferred this writ petition to declare that the petitioner has been promoted to cadre post in Engineer-in-Chief-cum-Additional Commissioner-cum-Special Secretary, Road Construction Department, Government of Jharkhand as per the provisions of Jharkhand Engineering Services Recruitment Rules, 2016 [hereinafter to be referred to as the Rules, 2016] from the feeder post Chief Engineer, Road Construction Department, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi and not within non-existent post of Engineer-in-Chief. The further prayer is made to declare the petitioner as entitled for the above said promotion to the cadre post of Engineer-in-Chief-cum-Additional Commissioner-cum-Special Secretary, Road Construction Department, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi and the applicable decision of the State of Jharkhand from the due date i.e. 24.12.2019 and not from 08.07.2020 as has been notified by the notification dated 08.07.2020 contained in Annexure-11. The prayer for consequential benefit is also made in the writ petition.

4. The petitioner was appointed on the post of Assistant Engineer in the Road Construction Department, Government of Bihar vide notification dated 16.06.1987 as per the provisions of Bihar Engineering Services Class-II Rules, 1939 pursuant to due selection process held by the Bihar Public Service Commission. The petitioner was substantially promoted to the post of Executive Engineer w.e.f. 15.06.1995 vide notification dated 27.08.1996 by the said department as per the provisions of Bihar Engineering Services Class-I Rules, 1939. On bifurcation of the erstwhile State of Bihar w.e.f. 15.11.2000 as per the provisions of Bihar Re-organization Act, 2000, the services of the petitioner on the post of Executive Engineer was allocated to the State of Jharkhand. The petitioner became a member of Class-I Engineering Services of State of Jharkhand in the Road Construction Department as per the Bihar Engineering Services Class-I Rules, 1939. In that view of the matter, the State of Jharkhand is the controlling authority of the petitioner. The petitioner was promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer on substantial basis as per the provisions of Bihar Engineering Services Class-I Rules, 1939 by notification dated 08.07.2014. The petitioner filed W.P. (S) No. 415/2015 praying therein to consider the case for promotion on the post of Engineer-in-Chief-cum-Additional Commissioner-cum-Special Secretary w.e.f. 01.02.2014 as the petitioner was already holding the post of Engineer in Chief on additional charge. The said writ petition was disposed of observing that the claim of the petitioner for promotion would depend on consideration of all eligible persons who fall in the zone of consideration upon the availability of vacancy in the respective category. The State of Jharkhand came out with a notification dated 12.04.2016 whereby the Jharkhand Engineering Services Recruitment Rules, 2016 was notified which was published in the Official Gazette (Extra Ordinary) on 03.05.2016. Rule-3 of the said Rules disclose the consisting of post mentioned in Schedule-I. Rule-7(III) and (IV) read with Schedule-II of the 2016 Rules, the post of Engineer-in-Chief-cum-Additional Commissioner-cum-Special Secretary is to fill up on the recommendation of the Departmental Promotion Committee as constituted in Schedule-IV. The Schedule-IV speaks of the Departmental Promotion Committee so far the post of the