CANARA BANK Vs. V K GROVER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of the present petition, the petitioner seeks to assail the order dated February 28,2004, passed by the learned Central Government Industrial Tribunal-cum- Labour Court wherein it was held that the respondent, applicant therein, was entitled to stagnation increment.

(2.) The brief facts necessary to dispose of the present petition are as follows. The respondent was appointed in the erstwhile Lakshmi Commercial Bank Limited, as Clerk on September 4, 1972. He was promoted as Head Clerk on November 11, 1980 and then to the post of Special Assistant on November 11, 1981. The respondent was then promoted to the officer cadre on January 7, 1983. Thereafter, the erstwhile Lakshmi Commercial Bank was amalgamated with the petitioner bank w.e.f. August 24, 1985. Accordingly, w.e.f. August 24, 1985, the respondent became an employee of the petitioner bank at the officer cadre. Vide order dated September 19,1986, the respondent was transferred to the Sikanderabad Branch of the petitioner bank situated in U.P. However, the respondent did not join at the said branch and was subsequently transferred to the Vishakhapatnam branch in 1988. On May 30, 1988, the respondent made a representation to the petitioner bank for his retention at Delhi due to his family circumstances. Pursuant to the petitioner bank's refusal to retain the respondent at Delhi, the respondent again made a representation dated November 30, 1988 requesting to revert him back to the cadre of workman. The competent Authority of the petitioner bank granted permission to revert the respondent in the clerical cadre, vide proceedings dated February 3,1989 upon the respondent's acceptance of the terms and conditions of such reversion, vide his acceptance letter dated January 3,1989.

(3.) After reversion, the respondent was fitted at the basic pay scale of Rs. 2,715/- which was the basic pay at the 19th stage of 20 years span of clerical scale of pay i.e. at which he would have reached had he continued as a clerk from the date of his appointment w.e.f September 4, 1972. The basic pay scale of the respondent became Rs. 2,835/- w.e.f. September 1, 1989 which was subsequently revised to Rs. 2,860 w.e.f. January 1, 1990, in terms of the revised clerical pay scale under the Supplementary Settlement dated June 29, 1990, which was the maximum in the clerical cadre. The respondent claimed that he became entitled to get the first stagnation increment of Rs. 120/- from September 1,1992, i.e. on completion of 3 years of service after September 1, 1989 in terms of the Fifth Bipartite Settlement dated April 10, 1989.