Patna High Court
Santosh KumarversusThe State of Bihar
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISPOSED
- Bench
- HARISH KUMAR
Holding
The petitioners are entitled to the trained pay scale from the date of completion of their training, and the State must grant the benefit consistent with earlier judgments.
Summary
A group of untrained Panchayat/Prakhand/Nagar teachers appointed between 2013-2016 filed a writ petition alleging that delays by the State in sending them for training and publishing their examination results denied them the trained pay scale. The petitioners relied on earlier decisions of this Court in Kishor Kumar & Ors. and Manoj Kumar & Ors., which directed the Director of Primary Education to grant trained scale benefits from the date of training completion. The State argued that the petition was barred by pending appeals, but those appeals and the SLP were dismissed, removing any impediment. The Court held that the State’s own lapses cannot be a ground to deny the petitioners’ legitimate claim and ordered that the benefit be accorded, subject to the petitioners filing separate representations within four weeks. The Court further directed the respondent to consider the representations and implement the relief within the stipulated time, in line with the Bihar State Litigation Policy.
Issues considered
- Whether the petitioners are entitled to the trained pay scale despite delays caused by the State in their training and result publication.
- Whether the State can lawfully deny the benefit on the ground of its own procedural lapses.
- Whether earlier judgments of this Court bind the respondents to grant the same relief to the present petitioners.
Subjects
- trained pay scale
- teacher appointments
- delay in training
- writ petition
- Bihar State Litigation Policy
- principle of estoppel
- administrative lapse
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.2080 of 2026
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1. Santosh Kumar S/o-Late Fanindra Sharan Sah, Resident at Ramna Road,
P.S.-Pirbhahore, Distt. and Town-Patna, Presently posted as Panchayat
Teacher at Primary School Bodhgawan JH, Patna Sadar Phulwarisharif.
2. Vidhyanand Ram, S/O- Bechan Ram, Resident of village- ward No.-8 Hardi
Pachchim, P.S-Supaul, Distt. Supaul, Bihar Presently Posted as Block
Teacher at Middle School Baijnathpur Kishanganj, Supaul.
3. Nitu Kumari, D/O- Ramesh Chaudhary, Resident of village-ward No.-4
Kishanpur Road, P.S. Supaul, Distt- Supaul Bihar Presently Posted
Panchayat Teacher at Primary School Chainsingh Patti Supaul.
4. Bablu Kumar, son of Shivnandan Sah, R/V- Kariho, PS. Supaul, Distt-
Supaul Bihar, Presently Posted as Panchayat Teacher at Primary School
Khan Tola Parsa.
5. Anuj Anand, S/o- Binod Kumar, Resident of ward No.-3 west of P.H.E.D.
Office Anand Vihar Madhepura, P.S.-Madhepura, Distt.-Madhepura.
Presently Posted as Primary Teacher at Upgraded Middle School
Kumarkhand Madhepura.
6. Yasbant Kumar, S/o- Yogendra Kumar, Resident of ward No.-05 Suraj
Niwas P.S. Madhepura, Distt. Madhepura, Presently Posted as Pramary
Teacher Basic Grade at upgraded Middle School Kumar khand Madhepura.
7. Sanjeet Kumar, S/o-Baidyanath Prasad Gupta, Resident of ward No.-24
Bhirkhl Mission Road Madhepura, P.S.-Madhepura, Distt.-Madhubani,
Pincode-847410 Presently Posted at as Basic Grade Teacher at Middle
School Raghinia Kumar Khand Madhepura.
8. Anwar Nshim, S/O- Md. Zalal Uddin, Resident of village-ward No.-22,
Husun Tola, P.S.-Supaul, Distt.-Supaul Bihar, Presently Panchayat Teacher
at Urdu Primary School Kathara Kishunpur.
9. Abdul Jabbar, S/o.-Mohammad Ismail Ansari, Resident of ward No.-16
Kharel Punawassupaul, P.S.-Supaul, Distt.-Supaul Presently posted as
Prakhand Teacher at Tak NR. U.M.S. Babhani South Gamhariya Madhepura.
10. Md. Shahnawaz Alam, S/o-Md. Badshah, Resident of village ward no. 04,
Near Panchayat Bhawan, P.S Dandari, Distt- Begusarai, Bihar, Presently
Posted as Prakhand Teacher at M.S. Hasahanpur Begusarai.
11. Md. Muslim Alam, S/O-Md. Siddique, Resident of Hussain Tola ward No.-
22 Supaul, P.S. Supaul, Distt. -Supaul Bihar, Presently Posted as Prakhand
Teacher at Middle School Malhani Tola Supaul.
12. Md. Salam Ansari, S/O- Md. Alauddin, Resident at Near National Public
School Momin Tola ward No. 22, P.S.-Supaul, Distt- supaul Bihar, Presently
Posted as Nagar Teacher at Urdu Middle School Supaul.
13. Md. Noor Alam, S/O- Md. Faruque, Resident of ward No.-03, Bela
Parasmani Ghuran, P.S.-Supaul, Distt- Supaul Bihar. Presently Posted as
Primary Graduate Teacher at Upgraded Middle School Bihariganj
Madhepura.
14. Zinat Perween, W/O-Md. Shamim Akhter, Resident of village- Husun Tola
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Ward No.-22, P.S.-Supaul, Distt.- Supaul Bihar, Presently posted as Nagar
Teacher at Primary School Koshi Colony Supaul.
15. Md. Parwez Alam, S/o- Md. Ehsnul Haque, Resident of ward No.-22
Hussain Chowk Supaul, P.S.-Supaul, Distt. -Supaul, Bihar Presently Posted
as Prakhand Teacher at upgraded Middle School Dhadi Dhatta Dakshin
Kishanpur Supaul.
16. Nitish Kumar, S/o- Parmeshwari Mehta, Resident of village- Chaughara,
P.O.-Herdi, P.S-Supaul, Distt- Supaul, Bihar, Presently Posted as Panchayat
Teacher at Primary Teacher Ghoraghat Kushar Supaul.
17. Md. Jamaluddin, S/o. Abdul Qadir, Resident of ward No.-04 Madhura, P.O.-
Chauhatta Rajpur, P.S.-Kishanpur, Distt.-Supaul, Presently posted as Urdu
Nagar Teacher at Middle School Purnarwas Supaul.
18. Shashi Ranjan Kumar, S/o-Jagannath Mehta, Resident of village Nirmali
ward No.-07 VTC, P.S.-Pipra, Distt. Supaul, Presently Posted as Basic
Grade Teacher at Middle School Tikuliya Supaul.
19. Anoj Kumar, S/o Nand Kishore Ram, Resident of village-ward No.-13
Jagjvan Ashram Madhepura, P.S.-Madhepura, Distt.- Madhepura, Pincode-
851204. Presently Posted as Primary Graduate Grade Teacher at upgraded
Middle School Kursandi Puraini Madhepura.
20. Nitish Kumar, S/O- Parmeshwari Mehta, Resident of Mohalla- Lakshminiya
ward No.-13 VTC- Hardi, P.S.-Supaul, Distt.-Supaul, at Present Posted as
Prakhand Teacher posted at Kataiya Supaul.
21. Shiv Narayan Kumar, S/O- Sukhdeo Ram Resident of village-Thumha ward
No.-07 P.O and P.S.-Supaul Bihar, Presently Posted as Prakhand Teacher at
U.M.S. Gamhariya, Madhepura.
22. Dinesh Kumar, S/o- Sahdeo Sharma, Resident at 243 Pakar School Road
Pakari Vishunpur, Distt.-Patna, Presently Posted as Nagar Teacher at Gove.
Middle School Mirdha Toli Gulzarbagh, Patna Sadar.
23. Shashi Shekhar Prasad, S/o- Prabhu Ram, Resident of village- Laualagan,
P.S Chau ga. Distt. Madhepura, Presently posted as Primary Basic Grade
Teacher at Upgraded Middle School chausa Madhepura.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
1. The State of Bihar through its Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar Patna.
2. The Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar Patna.
3. The Addl. Chief Secretary, Education Department, Govt of Bihar Patna.
4. The Director, Primary Education, Govt. of Bihar Patna.
... ... Respondent/s
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Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Mukesh Kumar No.1, Adv.
For the Respondent/s : Mr. Sitaram Yadav, GP-16
Mr. Yatindra Narayan, AC to GP-16
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH KUMAR
ORAL ORDER
2 09-02-2026 Heard the parties.
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2. The batch of writ petitioners was duly appointed as
untrained Panchayat/Prakhand/Nagar Teachers in the year 2013-
2016 by the competent authority. Despite having their
appointments been made with a clear stipulations that the
petitioners shall be sent for teachers training to their respective
training colleges, they had been sent belatedly. Even though the
petitioners have duly appeared in the examination, but their
results have been published with a further delay and thereby,
depriving them from trained scale for a pretty long time, without
there being any fault on their part.
3. Identical issue has come up for consideration before
this Court in case of Kishor Kumar & Ors. Vs. The State of
Bihar & Ors., CWJC No. 16165 of 2019, which came to be
disposed off on 09.08.2019, by observing as follows:-
“Considering the aforesaid,
the writ petition is disposed of with a
direction to the Director, Primary
Education to consider the case of the
petitioners and grant the benefit from the
date of completion of training to the
petitioners as the lapses on the part of the
respondents cannot be a ground to deny
the benefit of trained pay scale. It is now
well settled that one cannot take
advantage of his own wrong in defeating
the genuine claim. Chief Justice Chhagla
of Bombay High Court in the case of All
India Groundnut Syndicate Ltd. Vs.
Commissioner of Income Tax, Bombay
City: AIR 1954 Bom. 232 has occasion to
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settle the principle on the similar line
there is judgment of the Apex Court in the
case of State of Maharashtra Vs.
Jagannath Achyut Karandikar: AIR
1989 SC 1133. The respondents have to
take decision granting benefit of trained
scale to the petitioners with effect from
the date of completion of their training
i.e. May, 2017. Necessary decision in this
regard with all consequential monetary
benefits must be taken by the Director,
Secondary Education within a period of
sixty days from the date of
receipt/production of a copy of this order.
With the aforesaid, the writ
petition stands disposed of.”
4. Mr. Mukesh Kumar No. 1, learned Advocate for the
petitioners submitted that identically situated persons also
approached this Court in CWJC No. 7938 of 2020 (Manoj
Kumar & Ors. Vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.) with other
analogous writ petitions, which came to be disposed off in the
light of the aforenoted decisions on 01.02.2021. Aggrieved with
the order passed by learned Single Judge, the State has
unsuccessfully preferred letters patent appeal bearing LPA No.
456 of 2021, which came to be dismissed on 03.04.2025.
5. Referring to the aforenoted decisions, it is
submitted that despite the issue having been settled up to the
Division Bench of this Court, the petitioners have not been
accorded the identical relief in the light of the Bihar State
Patna High Court CWJC No.2080 of 2026(2) dt.09-02-2026
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Litigation Policy especially Clause 4 (c) (i) thereof. Hence, the
present application.
6. Learned Advocate for the State though did not
confront with the legal position, however it is apprised to this
Court that against the order passed by the Division Bench in
LPA No. 456 of 2021, the State has preferred SLP (Diary) No.
66035 of 2025 dated 17.11.2025.
7. At this juncture, learned Advocate for the petitioner
submitted that the SLP preferred by the State of Bihar also came
to be dismissed on 15.01.2026, hence there is no impediment in
extending the benefit in terms with the order passed by this
Court in Kishor Kumar & Ors. (supra) as well as the order
passed in CWJC No. 7938 of 2020 (Manoj Kumar & Ors. Vs.
The State of Bihar & Ors.) duly affirmed by the learned
Division Bench in LPA No. 456 of 2021.
8. Having considered the facts in the writ petition as
well as the position in law crystalized by the learned Single
Judge as well as Division Bench of this Court, this Court deems
it apt and proper to dispose off the present writ petition with a
liberty to the petitioner to file separate representations,
preferably within a period of four weeks from today.
9. In case, such representation is/are filed before the
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respondent no. 4, he shall take up the same and bring to its
logical conclusion preferably within a period of further eight
weeks, keeping in mind the observations and the discussions
made hereinabove, as also the Bihar State Litigation Policy,
specially Rule 4(C)(1) thereof.
10. It is made clear that if the claim of the petitioners
find identical to those who have been accorded the relief as
prayed for in the writ petition, the identical relief must be
accorded to the petitioner.
(Harish Kumar, J)
supratim/-
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