Patna HC Rejects Former Non-Formal Instructors’ Class IV Absorption Plea, Citing Earlier Ruling’s 26 February 2016 Cut-Off

The petitioners, including a registered association of erstwhile non-formal instructors and its constituent members, sought a writ of mandamus directing the State to absorb them into Class IV posts, relying on judgments of the Supreme Court and the Patna High Court

The State opposed the claim, submitting that the applicable cut-off date had already been fixed and that the petition had become infructuous in light of the Division Bench decision in The State of Bihar & Ors. v. Harendra Mishra & Ors., Civil Review No. 59 of 2018, reported in (2023) 3 PLJR 672

The Court relied on the Division Bench decision in The State of Bihar & Ors. v. Harendra Mishra & Ors., (2023) 3 PLJR 672. As quoted in the present judgment, that decision held that where the petitioners had not approached the High Court or the Supreme Court on or before 26 February 2016, relief could not be granted; it therefore set aside the order granting relief in the underlying writ petition

No statute or other independent legal test was identified in the judgment.

The petitioners’ claim concerned absorption of former non-formal instructors, while the State submitted that the claim was governed by the cut-off date addressed in Harendra Mishra

The Court accepted the State’s submission and, in view of the quoted ruling that persons who had not approached the Court by 26 February 2016 could not obtain relief, dismissed the present petition

Interlocutory Application No. 01 of 2023 was also disposed of.