Patna High Court: Ashutosh Kumar, J., directed the petitioner to file a fresh representation before the Principal Secretary, Department of Health, Government of Bihar, Patna.
The petitioner has filed this petition against an order issued by the Health Department. The petitioner asked for his voluntary retirement which was acceded to but allowed with a condition that he would be disqualified from being considered for any engagement on a contract or for any other responsibility.
The petitioner stated that the facts have been incorrectly stated in the order as he was not serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery but was an Associate Professor in Laparoscopic Surgery Department, PMCH. He had also requested for retiring voluntarily from 31-07-2019 but without any reason, the Health Department sanctioned his voluntary retirement from 31st of May, 2019.
The Court was of the view that the impugned order must read that the petitioner has voluntarily retired from the post of Associate Professor, Laparoscopic Surgery Department, which is a separate department in PMCH. Further, the prohibition on the petitioner for being appointed on contractual terms in future is also without justification and the Health Department does not have any authority to put such prohibition upon the petitioner. In cases of voluntary retirement, without there being any charge against the employee, the Bihar Service Code provides that such request could be unilaterally withdrawn before the same is accepted. Therefore the petitioner is not disqualified and must be allowed to retire voluntarily.
Therefore, the Court directed the petitioner to make a fresh representation before the Principal Secretary and can have the facts verified and must issue a clarificatory order to clarify the last post held by the petitioner. The future disqualification attached must be revisited and if it is beyond the competence of the authority, the same must be deleted.[Vishnu Kant Pandey, v. State of Bihar, 2019 SCC OnLine Pat 1273, decided on 01-08-2019]
