A division bench of the court, comprising Justice R A Sharma and Justice N N Singh, in the operative portion of their order read out in the court yesterday said, "The impugned orders are not bonafide and the same were passed on account of malafide and extraneous considerations....."

It further said, "From the pleadings of the parties, it is apparent that the impugned orders were passed not for the reasons mentioned in the... counter affidavit (of the State Government) but on account of the withdrawal of the support from the State Government by the members of the Legislative Assembly'' of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

"The writ petition is allowed... The impugned orders.... are quashed," the division bench of the Patna high court said in its judgement.

The division benchafter completing the final hearing of the petition filed by JMM-S central secretary Kumar Barun on December 16 had reserved its order which was delivered here yesterday.

The petitioner, Kumar Barun, an JAAC executive councillor, had challenged the government notification with the Ranchi bench of the Patna High Court on September 22, describing the State Government move as unconstitutional and inspired by political vendetta in the wake of withdrawal of support by the JMM-S to the RJD government in the State.

Barun was represented by a senior advocate of the Patna High Court Vimal Kumar, Ranchi bench advocates Sudhir Kumar and K M Verma whereas the State was represented by Advocate General Shashi Anugrah Narayan and Amreshwar Sahay.

The court had, in its interim order on September 22 last, granted a stay asking the parties to maintain status quo. The court had also directed the State Government not to make any appointments or nominations to the interim body of the JAAC till further court orders.

Barunsaid the Ranchi bench judgement yesterday vindicated JAAC executive councillors as well as the JAAC chairman Sibu Soren and its vice-chairman Suraj Mandal that the State Government move was unconstitutional and inspired by political vendetta.

JAAC vice-chairman Suraj Mandal, who was euphoric over the court judgement, described it as a symbolic victory of the people of Jharkhand over the anti-Jharkhand forces.

Talking to PTI

Suraj Mandal alleged that the JAAC chairman and vice-chairman along with 15 executive councillors had been dismissed as "a part of a conspiracy hatched by the State Government to help its ministers and officials to fleece the resource-rich Jharkhand region to the hilt".

Criticising the State Minister for Road Construction Md Ilyas Hussein, Mandal, who is also the JMM-S vice-president said, Hussein had transferred about eight executive engineers from this region to his own favourites.

Mandal said the memberships of the chairman, vice-chairman and other members of the JAACinterim executive council which were terminated by the state government in September last year stand automatically restored in the wake of the High Court order quashing the state government notification.