Punjab-Haryana High Court
Rajesh Kumar Dahiya vs State Of Haryana And Another on 26 July, 2012
Author: Augustine George Masih
Bench: Augustine George Masih
CWP No. 14061 of 2012 1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH.
CWP No. 14061 of 2012
Date of Decision : July 26, 2012
Rajesh Kumar Dahiya
.... PETITIONER
Vs.
State of Haryana and another
..... RESPONDENTS
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH
Present : Mr. Sajjan Singh Malik, Advocate,
for the petitioner.
AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (ORAL)
Petitioner has approached this Court with a prayer for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to grant him one more additional increment which he is entitled to in the light of he having obtained Ph.D. Degree.
It is the contention of the petitioner that he was appointed as a Lecturer College Cadre (Assistant Professor) in Mathematics on 23.08.2004 at Govt. College for Women, Bhodia Khera, Fatehabad vide order dated 18.04.2004 (Annexure P-1). He had sought CWP No. 14061 of 2012 2 provisional certificate of Ph.D. on 25.04.2003 which he submitted to the competent authority at the time of his appointment. Two advance increments were granted to him for having M.Phil. degree and for Ph.D. Degree, one increment has been granted to him which, he contends, is not the mandate of the statute which says that every Lecturer with Ph.D. or M.Phil., to be in university or college gets four or two advance increments respectively at the time of initial appointment. This is a reference to the Finance Department letter dated 05.12.2001. On this basis, counsel contends that the petitioner was entitled to four advance increments on his appointment, which has not been granted to him. Claiming the benefit of these instructions, petitioner has served a legal notice dated 30.05.2011 (Annexure P-4) upon the respondents but without any decision thereon till date. Reliance has been placed by the petitioner on the judgments passed by this Court which dealt with this aspect in CWP No. 5379 of 2010 titled as Raj Kumar vs. State of Haryana and others, decided on 06.09.2010 and CWP No. 10352 of 2010 titled as Ajit Kumar vs. State of Haryana, decided on 19.11.2010. Reliance has also been placed upon a judgment of this Court in RSA No. 9793 of 2009 titled as State of Haryana and others vs. Bhupinder Singh Kundu, decided on 08.02.2012.
Counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner, at this stage, would be satisfied if a direction is issued to the Financial CWP No. 14061 of 2012 3 Commissioner and Principal Secretary to the Govt. of Haryana, Higher Education Department-respondent No. 1 to consider and decide the legal notice dated 30.05.2011 (Annexure P-4) within some specified time.
Without going into the merits of the case or commenting thereon, the present writ petition is disposed of with directions to the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary to the Govt. of Haryana, Higher Education Department-respondent No. 1 to consider and decide the legal notice dated 30.05.2011 (Annexure P-4) within a period of three months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order. The decision so taken be conveyed to the petitioner forthwith.
In case the petitioner is held entitled to the claim made by him through his legal notice, the consequential benefits, if any, be released to him, in accordance with law, within a further period of one month. In case, the claim of the petitioner is to be rejected, a well-reasoned and detailed speaking order be passed.
(AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH )
July 26, 2012 JUDGE
pj
CWP No. 14061 of 2012 4