Punjab-Haryana High Court
Gurmeet Singh And Another vs Punjab School Education Board And ... on 6 December, 2012
Author: Rajesh Bindal
Bench: Rajesh Bindal
Civil Writ Petition No. 18307 of 2011 (1)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH
Civil Writ Petition No. 18307 of 2011 (O&M)
Date of decision : 6.12.2012
Gurmeet Singh and another .. Petitioners
versus
Punjab School Education Board and others .. Respondents
Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal
Present: Mr. D. S. Rawat, Advocate, for the petitioners.
Mr. Puneet Kumar Bansal, Advocate, for respondent
nos. 1 and 2.
Mr. Manoj Bajaj, Additional Advocate General, Punjab,
for respondent nos. 3 and 4.
Rajesh Bindal, J.
The petitioners have approached this court seeking a direction to the respondents to grant them the benefit of stepping up the pay at par with the junior in reserved category, who was promoted earlier to them on the next post.
Much facts in detail are not required to be noticed. Sufficient to mention that petitioner no. 1 is still in service working as Senior Assistant whereas petitioner no. 2 has retired from service. The petitioners were at Sr. No. 365 and 399 in the seniority list of Senior Assistants whereas one Jaswant Kaur belonging to Scheduled Caste Category was at Sr. No. 420. She was promoted as Senior Assistant on 14.2.1986 whereas the petitioners were promoted on 25.1.1994 and 2.3.1998, respectively.
Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that petitioner no. 2 had earlier filed CWP No. 83 of 2010 in this court, which was disposed of on 7.1.2010 directing the authorities to decide the legal notice got issued by petitioner no. 2 on 27.10.2009. It is in response thereto that the Punjab School Education Board has passed the orders Annexure P-5 and P-6.
Civil Writ Petition No. 18307 of 2011 (2) Submission of learned counsel for the petitioners is that in terms of judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Ajit Singh Janjua and others vs State of Punjab and others 1999 (4) RSJ 211, in case a reserved category junior employee is promoted to next higher post on account of reservation and a senior employee in the general category is promoted later on, on the next higher post, the seniority will have to be re-determined in terms of the places in the feeder cadre. After the petitioners were promoted as Senior Assistants, though they were placed above Jaswant Kaur in the seniority list as Senior Assistants, however, their pay was not stepped up at par with their junior who was promoted earlier. The case of the petitioners was recommended by respondent nos. 1 and 2 vide Annexures P-5 and P-6, however, still the objections were raised by Examiner, Local Fund Account, which are untenable. In support of his arguments, reliance was placed upon judgment of this court in CWP No. 5956 of 2008 Charan Dass vs State of Haryana and another decided on 18.11.2008.
Learned counsel for respondent nos. 3 and 4 could not dispute the law laid down by Hon'ble the Supreme Court and this court which provided for stepping up of pay of General Category of employees, who are promoted later than a reserved category employee on the next higher post in case the reserved category employee was junior to the General category employee in the feeder cadre. However, he submitted that in terms of the judgment, the State of Haryana has issued instructions whereas no instructions have been issued in the State of Punjab.
Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the paper book.
The stand sought to be taken by respondent nos. 3 and 4 is totally misconceived merely because no instructions have been issued by the State of Punjab, in terms of judgments of Hon'ble the Supreme Court and this court benefits cannot be denied to the petitioners. It has been held by this court in Charan Dass' s case (supra), that a general category employee if promoted later than a reserved category employee, though senior to the reserved category employee in the feeder cadre, on the next higher post, his pay has to be stepped up to bring at par with his junior reserved category Civil Writ Petition No. 18307 of 2011 (3) employee, though promoted earlier. Similar view was expressed by this court in CWP No. 17280 of 2011 Prem Kumar Verma and others vs State of Haryana and others decided on 7.8.2012. Though Punjab School Education Board has accepted the claim made by the petitioners and passed orders, Annexures P-5 and P-6, to that effect, however, objection was raised by the Examiner, Local Fund Account, which is not in conformity with the judgments, referred to above.
For the reasons mentioned above, the writ petition is allowed. It is directed that the petitioners shall be entitled to step up of their pay at par with their junior of reserved category, who was promoted earlier on the post of Senior Assistant. It is made clear that the petitioners shall be entitled to arrears on account of re-fixation of their salary for a period of three years from the date of legal notice got served by them on 27.10.2009.
6.12.2012 (Rajesh Bindal) vs Judge