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2008 DIGILAW 1108 (PAT)

State Of Bihar v. Vishwanath Kumar

2008-08-07

R.M.LODHA, RAVI RANJAN

body2008
Judgment 1. We heard Mr. Harendra Prasad Singh, Government Advocate and Mr. Pashupati Prasad Singh, Advocate for the respondent. 2. It has been canvassed before us by the Government Advocate on the basis of the supplementary affidavit filed by Shiva Bhushan Thakur, Joint Registrar (Headquarters), Co-operative Societies, Bihar, Patna that in the entire Cooperative Department there is no post of Head Assistant and, therefore, there is no question of respondent being posted as Head Assistant. It is, thus, submitted that the Single Judge committed an error in passing the impugned order. 3. In paragraph 3(i) of the supplementary affidavit, the following statement has been made: "There is only one category of post in the Co-operative Department with the post and scale of clerk (Assistant) with effect from 1.1.96. There is no post sanctioned as Head Assistant in the Department till today." 4. That the aforesaid statement is palpably wrong is apparent from the notification dated 31st October, 1983, which has been annexed as Annexure-13 with the writ petition. At SI. No. 5 of the said notification the post of Head Assistant at Darbhanga having been created is mentioned. 5. The Government Counsel sought to justify the stand set-up in the supplementary affidavit by stating that upon implementation of the Vth Pay Commission and in view of the resolution No. 660 dated 8.2.1999, the post of Head Assistant is yet to be identified. This explanation does not deserve to be accepted. Nothing has been shown from the resolution No. 660 dated 8.2.99, that the post of Head Assistant which already existed has been abolished. 6. The false affidavit by the Joint Registrar (Headquarters), Co-operative Societies, Bihar, Patna is a serious matter. A senior Government officer like him is expected to state truth and nothing but truth in the affidavit but he did otherwise. The practice of filing false affidavit by the Government officer/official not only requires to be deprecated but also for such perjury, the officer/official needs to be prosecuted. 7. We, accordingly, direct the Joint Registrar (Judicial) of this Court to file a complaint in the competent court of criminal jurisdiction against Shiva Bhushan Thakur, Joint Registrar (Headquarters), Cooperative Societies, Bihar, Patna, having filed a false affidavit before this Court today which is marked X for identification puipose. 7. We, accordingly, direct the Joint Registrar (Judicial) of this Court to file a complaint in the competent court of criminal jurisdiction against Shiva Bhushan Thakur, Joint Registrar (Headquarters), Cooperative Societies, Bihar, Patna, having filed a false affidavit before this Court today which is marked X for identification puipose. The criminal complaint shall be filed against Shiva Bhushan Thakur as expeditiously as possible and in no case later than one month from today. 8. Since there is post of Head Assistant and the respondent has been working on that post for quite sometime pursuant to the directive issued by the Secretary, Co-operative Department, Government of Bihar on 3rd March, 2004, the view of the Single Judge cannot be faulted. 9. L.P.A. is accordingly dismissed in limine.