Cadre status of +2 lecturers upheld; later encadrement with nationalized school teachers was invalid as ultra vires and arbitrary.

+2 lecturers appointed under Advertisement No. 1/87 were treated as belonging to the Bihar Subordinate Education Service because contemporaneous notifications, the advertisement, pay scales, qualifications, and prior litigation consistently placed the posts within that cadre. Appointment letters describing the posts as ex-cadre and temporary could not override that record. The 23.06.2009 encadrement with teachers of nationalized secondary schools was invalid because it exceeded the scope of the enabling Act, was inconsistent with Sections 9 and 15 of the Bihar Non-Government Secondary Schools (Taking over of Control and Management) Act, 1981, and created arbitrary and discriminatory treatment contrary to Articles 14 and 16(1). Consequential service benefits were required.

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Issues: Whether the +2 lecturers appointed pursuant to Advertisement No. 1/87 were part of the Bihar Subordinate Education Service and were therefore entitled to be treated as members of the Bihar Education Service, and whether the notification dated 23.06.2009 encadring them with teachers of nationalized secondary schools was valid.

Analysis: The contemporaneous notification dated 13.11.1985 and Advertisement No. 1/87 treated the +2 lecturer posts in government schools as posts in the BSES cadre, and the matching pay scales, qualifications, and later treatment in prior litigation supported that position. The appointment letters describing the posts as ex-cadre and temporary could not override the broader statutory and administrative record. The State's attempt to justify the 2009 encadrement was held to be inconsistent with the scope of Sections 9 and 15 of the Bihar Non-Government Secondary Schools (Taking over of Control and Management) Act, 1981, which did not authorise such expansion of service conditions for government-school lecturers. The impugned action was also found to defeat legitimate expectations and to create an arbitrary and discriminatory classification contrary to Articles 14 and 16(1) of the Constitution of India.

Conclusion: The +2 lecturers appointed under Advertisement No. 1/87 were held to be members of the Subordinate Educational Service, and the State was required to treat them accordingly with all consequential service benefits. The encadrement with nationalized school teachers was upheld as invalid.

Ratio Decidendi: Where contemporaneous notifications, advertisements, and service conditions consistently show a post to be within a cadre, a later contrary description in appointment letters cannot displace that cadre status; an administrative notification that alters such status beyond the enabling Act is ultra vires and arbitrary.

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