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Mukesh Kumar & Ors. v. State of Bihar & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 139Decided 13 Feb 2018
Civil Appeal No. 1868 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar

Background

The appellants had worked for about 23 years under the Bihar School Examination Board (earlier the Bihar Intermediate Education Council), which was abolished by a 2007 repeal law. That law required a Committee of Secretaries to prepare a scheme for absorbing or retiring the Council's old employees, and a Resolution based on that Committee's report was passed, but a separate Board committee later said the appellants lacked the 10 years' service the scheme required and refused to absorb them.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found it hard to accept the Board's position, holding that once the statutory Committee had submitted its report, the State Government was bound to act on it and that no further committee was needed to second-guess that report. The Court disposed of the appeal by directing the State Government itself to take an appropriate decision strictly in light of the Repeal Act's scheme, the Committee's report and the Resolution passed on it, expressly keeping in mind that the appellants had by then worked for around 23 years, and it fixed a two-month deadline for this to be done, with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

Where a statute sets up a specific committee process to decide how absorbed employees should be treated, the government cannot bypass that process through an ad hoc internal committee; long years of continuous service are a factor the authorities must weigh when implementing such absorption schemes.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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