Lalan Kumar Paswan vs The State Of Bihar

Date : 21-08-2026 Heard the learned Senior counsel for the petitioners and the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State.

Initially, the writ petition was filed for the following reliefs:-

petition, counter affidavit, supplementary counter affidavit and rejoinders were filed and the documents on behalf of the petitioners as well as the respondent-State, were brought on record.

Vide order dated 26.06.2025 passed in this writ petition, a Hon’ble Single Judge of this Court, while taking note of the submission made by the learned Senior counsel for the petitioners, in paragraph no. 3 to paragraph no. 9 has recorded as under:-

13.08.2026, this Court directed the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State to telephonically enquire from the Principal, Purnea College of Engineering that how many seats are sanctioned in the subject, in which the petitioners were working.

When the matter was taken up on 14.08.2026, the learned counsel for the State informed this Court that as per the telephonic information given by the Principal, Purnea College of Engineering, total eight seats in the subject are sanctioned and out of the said eight seats, six persons have been regularly appointed and are working at present and two seats are vacant, on which nobody is working. The said statement of the learned counsel for the State was taken on record in the order dated 14.08.2026. On the said date on account of non-availability of the learned Senior counsel for the petitioners, the matter was adjourned for 21.08.2026.

Today, when the matter has been called out, the learned Senior counsel for the petitioners refers to an advertisement dated 12.07.2023 bearing Interview No. 01/2023-2024, issued under the signature of the Principal, B.P. Mandal Engineering College, Madhepura whereby advertisement was issued for walk-in-interview for Guest Assistant Professor in different subjects i.e. Computer Science Engineering (C.S.E.), Mechanical and Mathematics. He submits that on the one hand the petitioners have been removed as a Guest Faculty and on the other hand, the respondents have issued advertisement for appointment of Guest Faculty through walk-in-interview. He submits that it is settled law that by removing one set of contractual employee, another set of contractual employee can not be appointed.

The learned Senior counsel for the petitioners further submits that since the petitioners were working and the respondents are intending to appoint contractual teachers as Guest Faculty, the petitioners have a right to be considered for their appointment/continuance on the said post.

The learned Senior counsel for the petitioners further refers to Memo No. 15/A2-01/2014 dated 01.08.2023, issued under the signature of the Joint Secretary, Department of Education, Government of Bihar, Patna and submits that Education Department has itself notified/directed for appointment of Guest Faculty in the interest of students. He submits that in terms of the above decision of the State Government, the appointment of the petitioners as a Guest Faculty should have been continued or if there is a vacancy, the petitioners have a right to be considered for the said post.

Per contra, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State submits that out of the total number of eight seats in the subject, in which the petitioners were teachers, six persons have been regularly appointed and are working at present and only two seats remains to be filled up and at present nobody is working on the said post.

Having considered the rival submissions and after going through the records, it appears that out of the total eight seats, six persons are regularly working as Assistant Professors in the Civil Engineering Department of Purnea College of Engineering. Two seats are vacant, as per the information provided by the Principal of the College and none is working on the said post. So far the submission of the learned Senior counsel for the petitioners is concerned, the advertisement relates to B.P. Mandal Engineering College, Madhepura and not related to Purnea Engineering College, Purnea, and even if it is assumed that the same is related to the College where the petitioners were teaching, the subject for which walk-in-interview was advertised was Computer Science Engineering, Mechanical and Mathematics. Further, so far the reliance placed on memo no. 15/A2-01/2014 dated 01.08.2023 is concerned, the same is related to appointment of Guest Faculty in the Universities and Colleges in the State of Bihar and not in the Engineering Colleges of the State Bihar. In the concerned department, where the petitioners were working, six persons are already working as regular teachers and two posts are admittedly vacant. This Court sitting under Article 226 cannot direct the respondents to appoint the petitioners on the vacant post, till the said post are not filled up through regular appointment. However, it is clarified that if the respondents intend to fill up the said two posts by appointing Guest Faculty, definitely the case of the petitioners requires to be considered by the respondent-College, at the time of taking steps for filling up the post through Guest Faculty.

With the above-mentioned observations, the writ petition is disposed of.

(Ritesh Kumar, J)

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