Central Administrative Tribunal - Chandigarh
Raghubir Singh Son Of Jiwna Mal vs The Chairman-Cum-Managing Director on 2 April, 2014
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
CHANDIGARH BENCH
(orders reserved on 19.3.2014)
T.A.NO. 57/PB/2014 Date of order: 2.4.2014.
(CWP No.7725 of 2005).
Coram: Honble Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Member (J)
Honble Mr. Uday Kumar Varma, Member (A).
1. Raghubir Singh son of Jiwna Mal, ITA (STS), O/o SDE, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., OCB-283, Albert Road, Amritsar.
2. Jatinder Singh son of S.Darshan Singh, TTA, O/o A/T, Ofice T&D Circle, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Amritsar.
3. Gurbinder son of Gurdial Singh, TTA, O/o SDE, P/P, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Albert Road, Amrtisar.
4. Gurdial Singh son of Charan Singh, TTA (STS), O/o SDE TRK, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Albert Road, Amritsar.
5. Kamal Saroop Sharma son of Desraj, TTA(STS), O/o CPL Carrier, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Amritsar.
6. Gian Chand son of Parma Nand, TTA(STS), O/o SDE CPU Carrier, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Amritsar.
7. Sahib Dayal Gupta s/o Dhsit Ram, TTA(STS), O/o SDE, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Traffic Police, Albert Road, Amritsar.
8. Amarjit Kalia son of Som Dutt, TTA(STS), O/o SDE, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., OFC, P Albert Road, Amritsar.
9. Shashi Pal son of Charan Dass, TTA O/o SDE Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Traffic P, Albert Road, Amritsar.
10. Mehanga Ram son of Sardari Lal, TTA(STS), O/o SDE, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., RLU, Majartha Road, Amritsar.
11. Tejwant Singh son of Bhagwan Singh, TA(STS), O/o SDE, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., RLU, Majarth Road, Amritsar.
12. Smt. Darshan Kaur Bajwa d/o Gurnam Singh, TTA(STS), O/o SDE, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., 10-B, Albert Road, Amritsar.
181. Harban Singh son of Hajara Singh, TTA(STS), O/o Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Amritsar SSA
182. Ashok Kumar son of Bakshi Ram, TTA(STS), O/o Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Amritsar SSA.
183. Ashok Kumar Sharma son of Ved Karkash Sharma, TTA(CTS), O/o DET Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Nangal, Ropar.
184. Narinder Pal son of Karam Chand, TTA(STS), O/o SDO, T. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Kurali, Ropar.
185. Gurchen Singh son of late S. Banta Singh, TTA(TS), O/o SDE, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., RSU-46, Chandigarh.
Applicants
(By Advocate: - Mr. Jagdeep Jaswal)
Versus
1. The Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Bara Khamba Road, Statesman House, New Delhi-1.
2. The Secretary, Telecom, Department of Communication, 20 Ashoka Road, Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi.
Respondents
(By Advocate: Mr. Sanjay Goyal).
O R D E R.
Honble Mr. Uday Kumar Varma, Member (A):
This is a case, which has come on transfer from Honble Punjab & Haryana High Court for disposal by the Tribunal as the jurisdiction of employees of BSNL has been conferred upon this Tribunal.
2. The applicants are serving as TTAs (Telecom Technical Assistant) in different branches located in Punjab & Haryana and in the writ petition filed before the Honble Punjab & Haryana High Court, they have sought the following reliefs: -
i) issue a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing of the letter dated 02.02.2005(Annexure P-6) whereby the claim of the petitioners for grant of pay-scale of Rs.7800-11175 w.e.f. 01.10.2000 on completion of total 16 years of service and for grant of pay-scale of Rs.8570-245-12245 on completion of total 26 years of service in terms of policy decision dated 17.12.1983 and 16.10.1990 (Annexure P-3) for the incumbents of the post of Telecom Technical Assistant has been rejected in an arbitrary manner and on factually incorrect grounds;
ii) issue a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to grant One Time Bound Promotion scale benefit to the petitioners in the Cadre of Telecom Technical Assistants in the Industrial Dearness Allowance (IDA) scales and thereby grant further pay-scale of Rs.7800-11175 w.e.f. 01.10.2000 on completion of total 16 years of service and the pay-scale of Rs.8570-245-12245 on completion of total 26 years of service in terms of the letter dated 17.12.1983 and 16.10.1990(Annexure P-3).
3. The case of the applicants is that in the erstwhile Telecom department, the revision of pay-scale of its employees including that of Technicians with effect from 1.1.1986 and the incumbents of the post of Technicians were granted the pay scale of Rs.975-1660 with effect from 1.1.1986. In the year 1994, a Scheme was introduced for restructuring various cadres of Telecom department and the post of Technician was re-designated as Telecom Technical Assistant with effect from 1.1.1994. Simultaneously, the essential qualification for appointment as Telecom Technical Assistant was also stipulated to be Diploma in Engineering or 2 years certificate of ITI. Since all the incumbents of the post of Technician were not possessing the qualification of Diploma in Engineering or 2 years certificate of ITI, hence a competition test was conducted for the Technicians possessing qualification lower to Diploma in Engineering for entry into the cadre of Telecom Technical Assistant, while no such screening test was to be conducted for the diploma holders or 2 years ITI certificate of Technicians and they were just allowed walk-in group in the Telecom Technical Assistant Cadre. After restructuring, the cadre of Technicians was merged into the cadre of TTAs and revised pay-scale of Rs.5000-8000 was granted with effect from 1.10.2000.
4. In the year 2000, the Government of India, created Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (for short BSNL) and transferred its rights, liabilities along with existing staff to this new Company registered under the Companies Act, 1956. The services of the employees including the applicants were absorbed in the Company with effect from 1.10.2000. As a consequence of the absorption, the pay scale of Group `C & `D employees were paired with Industrial Dearness Allowance with effect from 1.10.2000. By following an agreement between the three Federations and the Chairman cum Managing Director, it was decided to up-grade the basic pay scale of TTAs from Rs.4500-7000 (CDA) corresponding to IDA pay scale of Rs.6550-185-9325 to Rs.5000-8000 (CDA) corresponding to IDA pay scale of Rs.7100-200-10100 with effect from 1.10.2000.
5. Earlier before the formation of BSNL, the Scheme of One Time Bound Promotion (OTBP) and Bi-annual Cadre Review (BCR) were introduced on 17.12.1983 and 16.10.1990 respectively. The applicants made a representation to BSNL stating that under the Time Bound Promotion Scheme, all the TTAs are entitled to get higher scale of Rs.7800-220-12000 on completion of 16 years of total service. However, the pay scale of Rs.7800-220-12000 has been ordered to be granted to all TTAs on completion of 26 years of service instead of 16 years of service. In fact, they claim that all the TTAs are entitled to be given the pay-scale of Rs.9850-250-14600 on completion of 26 years of service in terms of BCR Scheme. The said representation was considered by BSNL in pursuance of a direction from the Honble High Court to dispose of the representation or justice demand notice by passing a speaking and reasoned order. In their order, the BSNL has taken the following decision:-
3. The case has been examined in the light of instructions issued on the subject from time to time and following are intimated wart. issues raised:-
a) The pay scale of TTA cadre was revised from Rs.4500-7000(CDA) to Rs.5000-8000 (CDA) w.e.f. 1.10.2000. After introduction of IDA pattern in BSNL w.e.f. 1.10.2000, the corresponding pay scale of TTAs in the scale of Rs.5000-8000 was changed to pay scale of Rs.7100-200-10100 in IDA pattern.
b) The OTBP/BCR pay scales as prescribed under concerned schemes, relate to pre-restructured cadres only which are granted on completion of 16/26 years of service of pre-restructured cadres;
c) There are no OTBP/BCR pay scales in force in any of the Restructured cadres viz. Telecom Mechanic, Sr. TOA and TTA. Since induction to Restructured cadre started around 1994, prescribing any OTBP/BCR scale of Restructured cadre is not relevant at present being premature.
d) The special dispensation of upgraded pay scales prescribed under DOT letter No.1038/MPP-98 dated 20.4.1999 and 20.9.1999 has been granted to all the Restructured cadre officials on completion of 16/26 years of service including the service rendered in the Pre-restructured cadres. The special dispensation of upgraded pay scales are/were not linked with the spirit of OTBP/BCR policy.
e) Grant of IDA pay scale of Rs.7800-225-11175 and Rs.9850-250-14600 on completion of 16/26 years of service respectively is devoid of merits, as the same does not fall within the purview of OTBP/BCR policy.
3. In view of the foregoing, the claims of the petitioner for grant of IDA pay scale of Rs.7800-25-11175 w.e.f. 1.10.2000 on completion of 16 years service in terms of OTBP policy and benefit of BCR scheme on the same terms on completion of requisite years of service are unjustified and devoid of merits, hence, cannot be acceded to. Accordingly, the petitioner is not entitled for the benefit as claimed by him in his notice. This issues with the approval of the competent authority. The applicants in response to this reply have approached this Tribunal and have sought the reliefs as mentioned in para 2 above.
6. We have gone through the record and have carefully heard the arguments of the learned counsels on both sides.
7. The issue that needs resolution is whether the Schemes of One Time Bound Promotion (OTBP) dated 17.12.1983 and Bi-annual Cadre Review (BCR) dated 16.10.1999 will be applicable to pre re-structured posts or not.
8. The respondents have very categorically stated that the OTBP/BCR pay-scales prescribed under concerned schemes, which provide enhanced pay scales on completion of 16/26 years relate to pre-restructured cadres only. There are no OTBP/BCR scales in force in any of the restructured cadres namely Telecom Mechanic, Sr. TOA and TTA.
9. We would not have any reason to doubt this assertion, but for the two documents placed on record by the applicants at Annexures P-9 & P-10. The document at Annexure P-10 seems to be relevant. This is a letter written by Shri Rajender Prasad, Assistant Director General (Pers.III) to all Heads of BSNL which, reads as follows:-
Sub.: Holding of DPC for replacement in higher pay scales of restructured cadres on completion of 16/26 years of service-Regarding.
It has come to the notice of this office that in some circles DPCs of OTBP/BCR stage are not being held before placing the officials in higher pay scales of restructured cadres on completion of 16/26 years of service on the plea that the grant of pay scales is a placement under FIR 22(1) (O)(2).
It appears that instructions contained in DOI letter NO.1-38/98-MPP dated 20.4.1999 have not been properly understood. These instructions pre-suppose the screening of officials by duly constituted DPC of OIBP/BCR stage. In case such screenings have been done, placement in higher pay scales is to be straight away effected. However, in the absence of such screening, judging of fitness of official by duly constituted DPC becomes imperative before grant of higher pay scales on completion of 16/26 years of service.
All Heads of the Circles are requested to ensure that regular DPCs are held before granting higher pay scales to the restructured cadre officials viz. Telecom Mechanics, Sr. TOAs and IIAs on completion of 16/26 years of service. The contents of this letter suggest that there is a notion of placing the officials in higher pay scales of restructured cadres on completion of 16/26 years of service in the context of OTBP/BCR stage. This seems contrary to the stand taken by the respondents in their written statement that the OTBP/BCR Schemes were strictly applicable to the pre-restructured cadres.
10. Our attention has also been drawn by the applicants to Annexures P-7 and P8. Through these Annexures, the applicants have tried to show that the benefit of OTBP/BCR pay scales in terms of policy-annexure P 3 is being extended to other class III employees of the BSNL and only the applicants i.e. TTAs are being discriminated in this regard. They have, in this connection, made a positive averment that the benefit is being extended to Senior Telecom Operating Assistants (Sr. TOAs), another cadre that was created as a consequence of restructuring in 1994.
11. The respondents had the opportunity to explain the facts in detail the pleas taken in para 10 and para 11 by the applicant. However, we find that adequate explaination on the issues raised by the applicants has not ben forthcoming.
12. Without going into the merits of the case at this stage, we would like to direct the respondents to reconsider their stand taken in their written statement before us in the light of Annexures P-9 & P-10 as also the assertion made by applicants that similarly placed Sr TOAs are being extended the benefit of OTBP/BCR while the TTAs are being denied this benefit. They should, after thoughtfully considering the whole matter afresh with due regard for equity and fairplay, pass a detailed, clear and reasoned speaking order dealing with every issue raised in the representation of the applicants as also the issues raised at the time of arguments before this Tribunal. The applicants are given the liberty to submit any supplementary representation to the respondents if they so wish and if it has a bearing on the issues under consideration. This supplementary representation, if any, may be made within 15 days of passing of this order.
We consider three months time from the date this order is received by respondents to be reasonable for compliance of the above direction to respondents. The order so passed by respondents be communicated to the applicants within 10 days of the passing of such order.
13. With the above directions, the TA stands disposed off. No costs.
(UDAY KUMAR VARMA) (SANJEEV KAUSHIK) MEMBER (A). MEMBER (J) Dated: April 2, 2014. Kks 2 ((T.A.NO 57/PB/ 2013) (Raghubir Singh & Ors. vs. UOI & Ors.). ( T.A.No.57/PB/2013) 1 (Raghubir Singh & Ors. vs. UOI & Ors.)