Central Administrative Tribunal - Delhi
Mrs. Manjula Devi Sharma vs Union Of India on 15 July, 2014
Central Administrative Tribunal Principal Bench, New Delhi O.A. No.1183/2010 Order reserved on:03.07.2014 Order pronounced on:15:07.2014 Honble Mr. G George Paracken, Member (J) Honble Mr. Shekhar Agarwal, Member (A)
1. Mrs. Manjula Devi Sharma Retd. Sr. Hindi Translator W/o Ramesh Chandra Sharma R/o 181, DDA Flats (RPS) Mansarover Park, Shahdra Delhi.
2. Mrs. Kusum Joshi W/o Late Shri Basant Ballabh Joshi Retd. Sr. Hindi Translator Survey of India, Dehradun.
3. Mrs. Saroj Dogra Sr. Hindi Translator O/o PB & CHD, GDC Survey Complex, Sector-32A Chandigarh.
4. Mrs. Poonam Kala Jr. Hindi Translator Surveyor General of India Office Survey of India Dehradun.
5. Mr. Dhoom Singh Asstt. Director(OL) Surveyor General of India Office Survey of India Dehradun
6. Mr. Diwakar Jr. Hindi Translator O/o Director, Map Archive & Dissemination Centre Dehradun
7. Mrs. Saroj Baluni Jr. Hindi Translator Surveyor Generals Office Survey of India Hathibarkla, Dehradun.
8. Mrs. Manjula Sharma Sr. Hindi Translator O/o Director G&RB Survey of India Dehradun.
9. Mrs. Lalita Rane Jr. Hindi Translator O/o MPGDC, Survey of India Jabalpur
10. Mrs. Maqbool Jan Sr. Hindi Translator O/o K&LGDC Thiruvananthapuram Kerala.
11. Mr. Rakesh Kr. Tarun Jr. Hindi Translator O/o Geo Spatial Data Centre Survey of India, Doranda Ranchi, Jharkhand.
12. Mr. Kamal Kant Jr. Hindi Translator O/o Director, Rajasthan GDC Survey of India Jaipur.
13. Km. Ira Rani Asstt. Director (OL) O/o IISM Survey of India Hyderabad.
14. Mr. V. Vidya Sagar Sr. Hindi Translator O/o director, SPG Hyderabad.
15. Mrs. G. Rama Jr. Hindi Translator O/o IISM Survey of India Hyderabad.
16. Mrs. K. Prasanna Lakshmi Jr. Hindi Translator GIS&RS Directorate Survey of India Hyderabad.
.Applicants (By Advocate: Mr. G.D. Bhandari) VERSUS Union of India, though
1. The Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology Department of Science & Technology Technology Bhavan, New Mehraulli Road New Delhi-110016.
2. The Surveyor General of India Survey of India Dehradun.
3. The Secretary Ministry of Finance Department of Expenditure New Delhi.
4. The Secretary Department of Personnel & Training JCA Division, North Block New Delhi 110001.
5. The Joint Secretary Raj Bhasha Vibhag Ministry of Home Affairs Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market New Delhi.
..Respondents (By Advocate: Shri Rajesh Katyal) Order Shri G. George Paracken:
The Applicants in this Original Application are/were working as Junior Translators, Senior Translators and Assistant Directors (OL) under the Respondent No.2, namely, The Surveyor General of India, Survey of India, Dehradun and in its offices located in other cities in the country. Some of them have already retired from service. All of them have been initially appointed as Junior Hindi Translators. Some of them got promotion as Senior Hindi Translators and some as Assistant Director (OL). They are aggrieved by the first Respondents Annexure A-2 letter dated 19.09.2005 addressed to the second Respondent rejecting the latters proposal to extend the benefits of the upgraded scales of Rs.5500-175-9000 and Rs.6500-200-10500 to their counterparts in the Central Secretariate Official Language Service (CSOLS) granted vide the M/o Home Affairs, Rajya Bhasha Vibhag Office Order No.13/6/2002/R.B/Service dated 19.02.2003 on the ground that the said scales were specifically for the said post in CSOLS and not acceptable to similarly designated posts outside the CSOLS. According to the aforesaid Office Order dated 19.02.2003 (Annexure-A), the pay scales of the senior Hindi Translators of CSOLS has been upgraded to the aforesaid scales w.e.f. 11.02.2003. Subsequently, vide Office order of even number dated 05.04.2004, the pay scales of the post of Junior, Senior Translators and Additional Director (OL) under the CSOLS has been upgraded w.e.f 01.01.1996 on notional basis and w.e.f. 11.02.2003 on actual basis. The upgraded scale of pay of the Additional Director (OL) is 7500-250-12000 instead of the existing scale of Rs.6500-200-10500. The M/o Finance, Department of Expenditure also, vide their Annexure A-1 Office Memorandum F.No.70/11/2000-IC dated 14.07.2003 conveyed their approval for extension of higher pay scales of Rs.5500-9000, Rs.6500-10500 and Rs.7500-12000 to the posts of Junior Hindi Translator, Senior Hindi translator and Assistant Director of CSOLS respectively with effect from 01.01.1996.
2. The Respondent No.2-Suvery of India has, therefore, taken up the case of the Applicants with the Respondent No.1, namely, The Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology to specify whether the aforesaid orders would be applicable in their cases also as they are working in a Subordinate Office. However, as stated earlier, the First Respondent, vide their impugned letter dated 19.09.2005, informed the Surveyor General of India that the pay scales approved by the Government vide Order No.13/6/2002-O.L.(Services) dated 19.02.2003 is specifically for the posts of Junior and Senior Hindi Translators working in CSOLS.
3. As the said benefits were not granted to the similarly placed Junior and Senior Hindi Translators and Translation Officers working in Headquarter Western Air Command, M/o Defence, they filed OA No. 402/2006 Suman Lata Bhatia and Others Vs. The Secretary, Ministry of Defence, South Block, New Delhi and Others. The said OA was disposed of by this Tribunal vide order dated 17.10.2008. Their claim was also for grant of pay scale of Rs.5500-9000, Rs.6500-10500 and Rs.7500-12000 respectively as in the case of similarly placed officials working in CSOLS. In the said OA, this Tribunal considered the fact that a co-ordinate Bench of this Tribunal (Calcutta Bench) in OA No.615/2006 Dinesh Kumar Rai and Others Vs. Union of India and Others had already allowed a similar application and held that applicants therein were entitled to get the upgraded pay scale of Rs.6500-10500 and Rs.7500-12000 with effect from 01.01.1996 notionally and actually from 01.02.2003 at par with their counter parts in the CSOLS or Armed Force Headquarter Official Language Service (AFHOLS). Accordingly, this Tribunal allowed the OA No.402/2006 (supra) holding that the Applicants therein were also entitled to the upgraded pay scales and directed the Respondents to pass appropriate orders within a period of 3 months. Pursuant to the aforesaid directions, Ministry of Defence has issued Order No.Air HQ/23077/Sr.T (H)/PC-3/200/CC/D(Air-III) dated 19.08.2009 granting the upgraded pay scale of Rs.5500-175-9000, Rs.6500-200-10500 and Rs.7500-250-12000 to the Junior Translator (Hindi), Senior Translator (Hindi) and Translation Officer (Hindi) notionally with effect from 01.01.1996 and actually w.e.f. 01.02.2003. The aforesaid order was issued subject to the outcome of the SLP Nos.11052-11053/2011 filed by the Respondents against the order of this Tribunal in OA No.402/2006 (supra) and those SLPs were later on dismissed by the Apex Court on 02.07.2013. The Bombay Bench of this Tribunal has also considered the same issue in OA Nos. 2120, 2138 and 2139 of 2005 Hariom Prasad Babulal Gupta and Others Vs. Union of India and Others and vide order dated 02.08.2012, the Respondents therein, namely, The Central Excise and Customs Board, Ministry of Finance and The Commissioner of Central Excise and Customs, Nagpur were directed to upgrade the scale of pay of the Applicants therein at par with the Translators in CSOLS notionally with effect from 01.01.1996 and actual payment in the higher pay scale with effect from 01.02.2003.
4. The contention of the Applicants is that they are also similarly placed and, therefore, they are entitled for the same benefits as granted to the Applicants in the aforesaid OAs. They have, therefore, prayed that the impugned order of the Respondents dated 19.09.2005 be set aside and the Respondents be directed to extend the revised pay scale of Rs.5500-9000, Rs.6500-10500 and Rs.7500-12000 to Junior Hindi Translators, Senior Hindi Translators and Assistant Director (OL) with effect from 01.01.1996 to 31.12.2005.
5. The Respondents have filed their reply opposing the claim of the Applicants. Their preliminary objection is that this OA is barred by limitation and, therefore, it is liable to be rejected on that ground alone. According to them, the order impugned in this OA is dated 19.09.2005 but this OA was filed only in the year 2010. Hence there is delay of more than 5 years in filing the OA. In this regard the learned counsel for the Respondents Shri Rajesh Katyal has relied upon a judgment of the Honble High Court of Delhi in Writ Petition (C) No.1760/2013 Union of India and Another Vs. S.P. Rangola and Others decided on 18.03.2013 wherein it has been held that even with respect to covered matters, issues pertaining to delay and laches, claim being barred by limitation etc. can be raised.
6. We have heard the learned counsel for the Applicants Shri G.D. Bhandari and the learned counsel for the Repondents Shri Rajesh Katyal. The undisputed position in the case is that the Applicants were at par with the similarly placed officials of CSOLS up to 31.12.1995. The Ministry of Home Affairs, vide their Office Order No.Sl.13/6/2002 R.B. (Service) dated 05.04.2004, upgraded the pay scales of the post of Junior, Senior Translators and Assistant Director (OL) under the CSOLS with effect from 01.01.996 on notional basis and with actual payment from 11.02.2003. The view taken by the various departments was that the aforesaid upgraded pay scales were applicable only to the employees working in CSOLS. However, the Calcutta Bench of this Tribunal in OA No.615/2006 (supra) held that although during the 4th Pay Commission there was a disparity between Secretariat Office and Subordinate Office in the matter of pay scale of Translators, the said disparity was removed on the basis of court decisions and since then parity was being maintained. The upgraded pay scale which has not been granted to the Secretariat Office was also not based on the recommendation of any expert body like Pay Commission. Therefore, the Tribunal held that the Respondents were required to implement those decisions in the case of the Applicants therein and cannot reopen the issue and create further disparity by upgrading the pay scales of Translators applicable to only a certain section, i.e., Central Secretariat Official Language Service or Armed Force Headquarter Official Language Service. The 5th Pay Commission and the 6th Pay Commission have recommended uniformity in the pay scales of Secretariat Office and Subordinate Office and, therefore, the Applicants therein were also entitled for the upgraded pay scales. Accordingly, this Tribunal held that the Applicants therein were entitled to get upgraded pay scale of Rs.6500-10500 and Rs.7500-12000 as the case may be w.e.f. 01.01.1996 notionally and actually with effect from 01.02.2003 at par with their counter parts in AFHOLS. The aforesaid order of the Calcutta Bench was followed by the Principal Bench in Suman Lata Bahatia and Others (supra). The Respondents have implemented the aforesaid order. It has also attained its finality after the dismissal of the SLPs filed against the same. Moreover, it is an admitted fact that the sixth Central Pay Commissions recommendations for parity in the pay scales of similarly designated posts existing outside the CSOLS cadre in various subordinate offices of the Central government has been granted the same pay scales w.e.f. 01.01.2006 as those granted to CSOLS.
7. In view of the above position, if the same benefits are not granted to the Applicants herein, it would amount to invidious discrimination resulting in continued disparity within similarly placed employees. Moreover, on the directions of this Tribunal in all the aforesaid cases, the applicants therein were granted the revised pay scale with effect from 01.01.1996 on notional basis and with effect from 11.02.2003 on actual basis. We in the above facts and circumstances of the case, quash and set aside the impugned order dated 19.09.2005 and allow this OA. Consequently, we direct the Respondents to maintain parity in the pay scale between the Applicants and the similar staff working under CSOLS for the period between 01.01.1996 to 31.12.2005. Further, we direct the Respondents to extend the benefits of Rs.5000-9000, Rs.6500-10500 and Rs.7500-12000 to the Applicants who are working as Junior Hindi Translators, Senior Hindi Translators and Assistant Director (OL) w.e.f. 01.01.1996 notionally and w.e.f. 11.02.2003 actually. Recovery, if any, made from the Applicants, in this regard, shall also be refunded to them with interest applicable to GPF contribution. The aforesaid directions shall be complied with, within a period of 2 months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
8. There shall be no order as to costs.
(SHEKHAR AGARWAL) (G. GEORGE PARACKEN)
MEMBER (A) MEMBER (J)
Rakesh