Karnataka High Court
Shri Ashok H And Ors vs The State Of Karnataka And Ors on 14 July, 2016
Author: Raghvendra S.Chauhan
Bench: Raghvendra S. Chauhan
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA
KALABURAGI BENCH
DATED THIS THE 14TH DAY OF JULY 2016
BEFORE
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RAGHVENDRA S. CHAUHAN
WRIT PETITION Nos.201067-77/2016 &
202647/2016 (S-R)
Between:
1. Ashok H
Age: 44 years, Occ: Peon
H K S Society's Smt. C B Patil
Arts & Commerce Degree College
Chincholi, Dist. Kalaburagi
2. Babanna Mulimani
Age: 45 years, Occ: Peon
H K S Society's Smt. C B Patil
Arts & Commerce Degree College
Chincholi, Dist. Kalaburagi
3. Rajshekar Desai
Age: 49 years, Occ: Attender
H K S Society's Smt. C B Patil
Arts & Commerce Degree College
Chincholi, Dist. Kalaburagi
4. Shivaraj C Hiranna
Age: 48 years, Occ: Typist
H K S Society's Smt. C B Patil
Arts & Commerce Degree College
Chincholi, Dist. Kalaburagi
5. Suresh G Rathod
2
Age: 47 years
Occ: Clerk cum Typist
H K S Society's Smt. C B Patil
Arts & Commerce Degree College
Chincholi, Dist. Kalaburagi
6. Kulkarni Shashikant
Age: 55 years
Occ: Associate Professor
(Commerce)
Nrupatunga Degree College
Sedam
7. Deshak Vasantrao
Age: 55 years, Occ: Librarian
Nrupatunga Degree College
Sedam
8. Chakki Shobhadevi
Age: 53 years
Occ: Associate Professor, (Sociology)
Nrupatunga Degree College, Sedam
9. T. Shivasharanappa
Age: 59 years
Occ: Associate Professor (English)
Nrupatunga Degree College, Sedam
10. Mukhtedar Arogyappa
Age: 59 years
Occ: Associate Professor
(Commerce)
Nrupatunga Degree College, Sedam
11. Vinayak
Age: 51 years
Occ: Clerk-cum-Typist
Nrupatunga Degree College, Sedam
12. S S Patil
3
Age: 52 years
Occ: Associate Professor
(Geography)
T S P Mandali's C M Managuli
Arts & Science College
Sindagi, Dist. Vijayapur
... Petitioners
(By Sri A.S.Patil, Advocate)
And:
1. The State of Karnataka
To the Department of Law &
Parliamentary Affairs
Represented by its Principal Secretary
Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru
2. The State of Karnataka
To the Department of Education
Represented by its Secretary
Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru
3. The Commissioner
Department of Collegiate Education
Nrupatunga, Bengaluru
4. The Director of Collegiate Education
Vishweshwaraiah Tower
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Veedhi
Bengaluru
5. The Regional Joint-Director
Department of Collegiate Education
Regional Office, Kalaburagi
... Respondents
(By Smt. Archana P. Tiwari, AGA)
These petitions are filed under Articles 226 and 227 of
the Constitution of India praying to struck down the
provisions of the Act No.7 of "Karnataka Private Aided
4
Educational Institutions Employees (Regulation of Pay,
Pension and other Benefits) Act, 2014" and consequently to
quash the Gazette Notification dated 12.02.2014 published
in Karnataka Gazette in No.SAMVYASHAE 60 SHASANA
2013, BANGALORE dated 12.02.2014 in Part IV(a) by
respondent No.1 as per Annexure-B, etc.
These petitions coming on for Preliminary Hearing this
day, the Court made the following:
ORDER
The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that in the present writ petitions the petitioners have challenged the constitutional validity of Karnataka Private Aided Educational Institutions Employees (Regulation of Pay, Pension and other Benefits) Act, 2014 and prayed for quashing the Gazette Notification dated 12.02.2014.
2. The learned counsel for the petitioners further submits that in identical writ petitions decided by the Dharwad Bench on 10.07.2015, namely in W.P.No.21216/2014 and other connected matters, the same issue was raised before the Dharwad Bench. By order dated 10.07.2015, the learned Single Judge of this 5 court had struck down the Act as unconstitutional, and had issued certain orders. Subsequently, the State has filed a writ appeal before the learned Division Bench, namely W.A.No.2476/2015; by the interim order passed on 27.11.2015, the learned Division Bench had recorded the statement of learned Advocate General for the State and has passed the following order:
"Writ Appeal No.2476 of 2015 and Writ Appeal Nos.3600 to 4195 of 2015 are the appeals against the judgment and order dated July 10, 2015, passed by the Hon'ble Single Judge, in relation to a batch of writ petitions pertaining to Dharwad Bench of this Court.
Learned Advocates appearing for the respondents submits that, to avoid conflicting judicial opinions, these appeals could be heard along with Writ Appeal No.2467 of 2015 and Writ Appeal Nos.2714 to 3455 of 2015. Writ Appeal No.2467 of 2015 and other appeals pertain to the Principal Bench.6
It is suggested by the learned advocates that let all the matters be considered by the Principal Bench of this Court.
We accept the prayer and decide to hear all the appeals together.
Issue notice on the application for condonation of delay in Writ Appeal No.2476 of 2015 Issue notice on the non-appearing respondents in Writ Appeal No.2467 of 2015. Insofar as the in-service respondents are concerned, we record the statement of the learned Advocate General that the State shall go on paying their current emoluments in terms of the re-fixation, subject, however, to the result of the writ appeals. However, they are restrained from initiating any recovery proceedings for recovery of the arrears of pay. So far as the retired employees are concerned learned Advocate General submits that the pension they are getting shall be continued to be paid to them. He submits that in some cases the pensions are based on the old 7 scales and in some cases after re-fixation. The State shall be paying the pension as are paid to those retired employees as of today.
So far as recovery proceedings and calculation of the pension in terms of the new regulation are concerned, the proceedings shall, however, remain stayed"
3. Therefore, the learned counsel prays that these writ petitions should also be disposed of in similar terms.
4. The learned counsel for the State has not challenged the position taken by the learned counsel for the petitioners. She, too, has agreed that the order dated 10.07.2015 has been challenged before the learned Division Bench and the learned Division Bench has passed the order quoted above on 27.11.2015. Therefore, both the learned counsel are ad idem that the present writ petitions are covered by the order dated 8 10.07.2015 and subject to the interim order dated 27.11.2015.
5. Therefore, this court directs the respondents to re-fix the pay of the petitioners in terms of the order dated 10.07.2015. However, it is made clear that such a re-fixation of the pay-scale would be subject to the result of the writ appeals pending before this court in the form of W.A.No.2476/2015, and other connected matters.
With these observations, these petitions are hereby disposed.
The learned counsel for the State is granted one week's time to file memo of appearance.
Sd/-
JUDGE NB*