Rajani Kant Ranjan vs The State Of Bihar
2023 Latest Caselaw 2716 Patna

          IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                     Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.20271 of 2021
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Rajani Kant Ranjan, S/o Sri Krishnandan Sharma, Resident of Village-Nemra P.O.-Pandit Ganj, P.S.-Kadariganj, Dist.-Patna.

... ... Petitioner/s Versus

1. The State of Bihar

2. The Chief Secretary, Government of of Bihar, Patna.

3. The Principal Secretary, Agriculture Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna.

4. The Agriculture Production Commissioner, A.P.C., Agriculture Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna.

5. The Director, Agriculture Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna.

6. The Bihar Public Service Commission through its Chairman, Bailey Road, Patna.

7. The Chairman, Bihar Service Commission, Bailey Road, Patna.

8. The Secretary, Bihar Public Service Commission, Bailey Road, Patna.

... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Binoy Kumar, Advocate For the Respondent/s : Mr. Sarvesh Kr. Singh (AAG-13) ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PARTHA SARTHY ORAL JUDGMENT (Per: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE)

Date : 27-06-2023

The petitioner a graduate in Horticulture (B.Sc.

Horticulture) seeks for incorporation of the said qualification Patna High Court CWJC No.20271 of 2021 dt.27-06-2023

also in the Advertisement No. 86 of 2014 under notification

dated 14.10.2014 which called for appointment to the post of

Bihar Agriculture Service Category-I (Agro). The petitioner's

contention is that Horticulture is akin to Agriculture and the

State erred in so far as bringing out a notification prescribing the

eligibility to the notified post to be a bachelor degree in

Agriculture Science and not in Horticulture Science. Learned

counsel for the petitioner while urging his contention on the

aspect of delay specifically pointed out that the notification is

already stayed in CWJC 5124 of 2018. The learned Government

Advocate and the learned Standing Counsel for the Bihar Public

Service Commission (for brevity "Commission") on the other

hand challenged the maintainability of the writ petition in the

year 2021 as against a notification of the year 2014. It is also

pointed out that there was no stay of proceedings and the

selection is almost over. It is further contended that the relief

sought for in the other writ petition was substantially different.

At the outset itself, we were convinced that no

challenge could be made to the notification of 2014 by a writ

petition in the year 2021; that too challenging the essential

qualifications. We saw the order in CWJC No. 5124 of 2018

which was produced before us. The order dated 25.02.2022 in Patna High Court CWJC No.20271 of 2021 dt.27-06-2023

the said writ petition only directed that the appointments would

be subject to the outcome of the writ petition and the said fact

be notified to the selected candidates. Hence, the selection

procedure was proceeded with and as submitted by the learned

Standing Counsel for the Commission, has been concluded. The

delay stares at the face of the petitioner, especially when the

learned Standing Counsel for the Commission submits that the

entire proceedings for selection are concluded.

Apart from this, we have seen the counter affidavit dated

08.04.2022 of the Bihar Public Service Commission in which is

extracted the requisition letter of the Agriculture Department,

Government of Bihar based on which the notification was

issued. There are five category of posts which are sought to be

filled up, namely, Bihar Agriculture Service Category I

(Agronomy), Bihar Agriculture Service Category-II (Agriculture

Engineering), Bihar Agricultural Service Category- III

(Chemistry), Bihar Agricultural Service Category-V (Plant

Protection) and Bihar Agricultural Service Category-VII

(Horticulture). It is trite, that it is for the Government to decide

the educational qualifications for the posts in its service. It is not

as if the Horticulture graduates are completely denied of

employment in the Agriculture Department. Considering the Patna High Court CWJC No.20271 of 2021 dt.27-06-2023

nature of the work and the requirement in each fields, the

categories have been specifically demarcated and their

educational qualifications determined. There are posts in which

an Agriculture graduate could apply and others where

Agriculture Engineering graduate is eligible and also where a

graduate degree in Horticulture Science or a Bachelor in

Agriculture with elective as horticulture is enabled appointment.

A brief perusal of the notification challenged also indicates that

the notification has invited applications to all the 5 categories

and the Horticulture graduates were invited by Advertisement

No. 90 of 2014.

We have also called the Judges papers of CWJC No.

5124 of 2018 in which no such contention; as taken herein was

urged. Therein, the petitioners were appointed on contract basis

as Agriculture Co-ordinators and their prayer was for weightage

to be given to the service rendered by them in the contractual

employment while carrying out the selection process as per the

notification No. 86 of 2014. No such relief has been claimed in

the present writ petition and in any event there is no stay of the

selection procedure as noticed above.

We find no reason to interfere with the notification

and the same is dismissed leaving the parties to suffer their Patna High Court CWJC No.20271 of 2021 dt.27-06-2023

respective costs.

(K. Vinod Chandran, CJ)

( Partha Sarthy, J) Anushka/-

AFR/NAFR
CAV DATE
Uploading Date          04.07.2023
Transmission Date