1 WPS No.3749 of 2026 & CONT No.687 of 2026 CGHC010187892026 2026:CGHC:41458 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPS No. 3749 of 2026 Dr. Rajesh Kumar Gupta S/o Amar Prasad Gupta Aged About 45 Years Posted As District Malaria Officer, Namnakala, Ambikapur, District Sarguja Chhattisgarh ---Petitioner Versus 1 - State of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Atal Nagar, Naya Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh 2 - Director Health Services Directorate, Indrawati Bhawan, Naya Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh 3 - Divisional Joint Director Health Services Directorate, Health And Family Welfare Department, Ambikapur, District Sarguja Chhattisgarh 4 - Collector, Ambikapur District Sarguja Chhattisgarh 5 - Chief Medical Officer Ambikapur, District Sarguja Chhattisgarh --- Respondents For Petitioner : Mr. Anup Majumdar, Sr. Advocate along with Ms. Arunima Agasey, Advocate For State/Respondent : Mr. Suyashdhar Badgaiya, GA And CONT No. 687 of 2026 Dr. Rajesh Kumar Gupta S/o Amar Prasad Gupta Aged About 45 Years Posted As District Malaria Officer, Namnakala, Ambikapur, District Sarguja Chhattisgarh --- Petitioner versus ASHUTOSH MISHRA Digitally signed by ASHUTOSH MISHRA Date: 2026.09.25 17:36:24 +0530 2 WPS No.3749 of 2026 & CONT No.687 of 2026 1 - Dr. Prem Singh Marco Chief Medical Officer Ambikapur, District Sarguja Chhattisgarh 2 - Dr. Deepak Gupta Medical Officer ( P G M O Pathology) Mother And Child Hospital Udaipur District- Surguja (C.G.) --- Respondents For Petitioner : Mr. Anup Majumdar, Sr. Advocate along with Ms. Arunima Agasey, Advocate For Respondents : Mr. Prafull N. Bharat, Sr. Advocate along with Mr. Aditya Kumar Mishra, Advocate (Hon’ble Shri Justice Bibhu Datta Guru) Order on Board 23/09/2026 1. The petitioner has preferred the present writ petition questioning the order dated 16.04.2026 (Annexure P/1), whereby he has been relieved from the charge of District Malaria Officer, Ambikapur, District Surguja, and has been directed to join at his original place of posting as Medical Lab Technologist at Primary Health Centre, Raghunathpur, Block Lundra. 2. During pendency of the writ petition, this Court, vide order dated 30.04.2026, stayed the effect and operation of the impugned order dated 16.04.2026. Alleging non-compliance of the aforesaid interim order, the petitioner has also preferred CONT No. 687 of 2026, contending that despite the interim protection granted by this Court, the respondents proceeded to require him to hand over the charge of District Malaria Officer and permitted another officer to discharge the said duties. The said contempt petition is also listed along with the instant writ petition. 3 WPS No.3749 of 2026 & CONT No.687 of 2026 3. Since both the matters arise out of the same subject matter and are intrinsically connected, they are being considered and disposed of by this common order. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner was initially appointed as Medical Lab Technologist and was subsequently entrusted with the charge of Assistant Malaria Officer and thereafter District Malaria Officer, Ambikapur. He was also appointed as Nodal Officer under the Nursing Home Act. He would further submit that the earlier order dated 02.08.2023, whereby the petitioner was sought to be reverted to the post of Medical Lab Technologist, was challenged before this Court earlier in W.P.(S) No. 6349 of 2023 and was ultimately quashed vide order dated 07.10.2025. Thereafter, by order dated 12.12.2025, the petitioner was again absorbed/continued against the post of Assistant Malaria Officer, which order has neither been cancelled nor superseded. It is submitted that the impugned order dated 16.04.2026 proceeds on the premise that the petitioner was merely working on attachment pursuant to the order dated 29.01.2019. According to learned counsel, in view of the subsequent orders passed by the competent authority, the petitioner's continuance could not have been treated as a mere attachment and cancelled by the impugned order. 5. Learned counsel further submits that the petitioner, while functioning as Nodal Officer under the Nursing Home Act, had faced an anonymous complaint, but upon inquiry conducted by the committee constituted by the Collector, he was given a clean chit. The impugned action, according 4 WPS No.3749 of 2026 & CONT No.687 of 2026 to learned counsel, has therefore resulted in his removal from the position from which he was discharging the statutory responsibilities of the Nodal Officer. 6. Per contra, learned State counsel submits that the petitioner was originally appointed as Medical Lab Technologist and his services were attached to the office of the District Malaria Officer vide order dated 29.01.2019 purely on administrative exigency. The petitioner, therefore, has no substantive right to continue against the post of District Malaria Officer. It is further submitted that pursuant to the instructions dated 12.03.2026 for cancellation of attachments, the impugned order dated 16.04.2026 was passed directing the petitioner to return to his original place of posting. It is contended that the impugned order is merely consequential to the said instructions and does not suffer from any illegality. Learned State counsel also submits that the allegation of mala fide is wholly unfounded and that the impugned order has been passed only to restore the petitioner to his original place of posting. 7. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and have perused the pleadings as well as the documents available on record. 8. From the material placed on record, it is not in dispute that the petitioner was initially appointed as Medical Lab Technologist and was subsequently entrusted with the charge of Assistant Malaria Officer. It is also not in dispute that he was thereafter functioning as District Malaria Officer, Ambikapur and was appointed as Nodal Officer under the Nursing Home Act. It is further not in dispute that the order dated 5 WPS No.3749 of 2026 & CONT No.687 of 2026 02.08.2023, whereby the petitioner was directed to work as Medical Lab Technologist, was challenged before this Court in W.P.(S) No. 6349 of 2023 and the said writ petition was ultimately allowed vide order dated 07.10.2025, whereby the order dated 02.08.2023 was quashed. Thereafter, the petitioner was again absorbed/continued against the post of Assistant Malaria Officer by order dated 12.12.2025. The said order has not been shown to have been cancelled, withdrawn or superseded by any subsequent order passed by the competent authority. The principal question, therefore, is whether the respondents could, by the impugned order dated 16.04.2026, treat the petitioner's continuance as District Malaria Officer merely as an attachment pursuant to the order dated 29.01.2019 and, on that basis, relieve him from the said charge. 9. In the considered opinion of this Court, the subsequent orders passed in respect of the petitioner cannot be ignored while considering the effect of the original attachment order dated 29.01.2019. In particular, the order dated 12.12.2025 continues to hold the field. There is no material on record to demonstrate that the said order has been cancelled or superseded by the competent authority. 10. The reliance placed by the respondents upon the instructions dated 12.03.2026 regarding cancellation of attachments also does not, by itself, resolve the issue. Such instructions may operate in respect of subsisting attachments; however, the same cannot be construed as automatically nullifying a subsequent order passed by the competent authority in respect of the petitioner. 6 WPS No.3749 of 2026 & CONT No.687 of 2026 11. Once the subsequent order dated 12.12.2025 remains operative, the petitioner's status could not have been determined solely with reference to the original order dated 29.01.2019. In the absence of any order cancelling or superseding the subsequent order by the competent authority, the impugned order, insofar as it proceeds on the premise that the petitioner's continuance was merely an attachment, cannot be sustained. It is clarified that this Court is not recording any finding that the petitioner has acquired a substantive right to hold the post of District Malaria Officer. The interference with the impugned order is confined to the manner in which the petitioner's existing arrangement has been sought to be brought to an end by treating the same merely as an attachment. 12. From the material available on record, it is evident that the petitioner was initially appointed as Medical Lab Technologist. However, considering the administrative exigency and on the recommendation of the higher authorities, he was subsequently entrusted with the charge of Assistant Malaria Officer by order dated 20.09.2019. By order dated 30.05.2020 it was directed that since one post of Assistant Malaria Officer is lying vacant in Surguja District and hence the salary of the petitioner be drawn from the said vacant post. Thereafter, he was entrusted with the charge of District Malaria Officer by order dated 31.01.2022. More importantly, pursuant to the judgment dated 07.10.2025 passed by this Court in W.P. (S) No. 6349 of 2023, the competent authority, vide order dated 12.12.2025 (Annexure P/9), absorbed the services of the petitioner 7 WPS No.3749 of 2026 & CONT No.687 of 2026 against the post of Assistant Malaria Officer, District Surguja, with effect from 30.05.2020, in Level-9 pay scale of ₹9300–34800 with Grade Pay of ₹4300. From these facts it is quite vivid that the services of the petitioner were never attached either on the post of Assistant Malaria Officer or District Malaria Officer, whereas his services were duly absorbed as Assistant Malaria Officer w.e.f. 30.05.2020. Thus, the order impugned by cancelling the order giving the charge of District Malaria Officer to the petitioner treating the same as an attachment order is absolutely illegal and contrary to the material available on record. 13. Accordingly, the impugned order dated 16.04.2026 (Annexure P/1) is set aside to the extent it relieves the petitioner from the charge of District Malaria Officer, Ambikapur, and directs him to join at his original place of posting. The respondents shall permit the petitioner to continue to discharge the duties of District Malaria Officer, Ambikapur, in accordance with the subsisting orders. It is, however, made clear that this order shall not preclude the competent authority from passing an appropriate order regarding the posting/assignment of the petitioner, if so warranted, in accordance with law. This Court has not expressed any opinion regarding the petitioner's substantive entitlement to the post of District Malaria Officer. The writ petition, accordingly, stands allowed to the aforesaid extent. 14. So far as Contempt Case (C) No. 687 of 2026 is concerned, the same has been filed alleging non-compliance of the interim order dated 30.04.2026 passed in the present writ petition, whereby the effect and 8 WPS No.3749 of 2026 & CONT No.687 of 2026 operation of the impugned order dated 16.04.2026 was stayed. Since the main writ petition i.e. W.P.(S) No. 3749 of 2026, has now been finally disposed of by this common order, the interim order dated 30.04.2026 merges with the final order passed in the writ petition. In these circumstances, no further orders are required to be passed in the contempt petition. 15. As a sequel, • WPS No.3749 of 2026 is allowed to the extent indicated in para 12 of this order; and • CONT No. 687 of 2026 is disposed of. Rule is discharged. SD/- SD/- (Bibhu Datta Guru) JUDGE ashu