STATE OF KERALA Vs. V. MURUGAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The issue involved in all these writ appeals is as to whether the respondents in these writ appeals are entitled to pay and allowances in their promotion posts, under the 7-tier system in view of the Government Order dtd. 20/6/1998 bearing No. G.O. (MS) No.46/98/PWD or under the 5-tier system which existed prior to the said order and was revived as per the Government Order dtd. 7/10/2003 bearing No. G.O (MS) No.54/03/PWD? Since the issue involved in all these writ appeals is the same, they are heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. For convenience, the parties are referred in this judgment in their status as they were in the writ petitions, unless otherwise stated.

(2.) All these writ appeals are filed by the State and its officials under Sec. 5(i) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958, against the common judgment of the learned Single Judge in the respective writ petitions, holding that the issue is fully covered in favour of the petitioners by virtue of the Division Bench judgment in W.A. No.2503 of 2005 rendered on 11/1/2010. By the impugned judgment, the learned Single Judge disposed of the writ petitions directing the respondents to disburse the monetary benefits and revised pensionary benefits to the petitioners on the basis they were promoted under the 7-tier system introduced in the Public Works Department ('PWD' in short). It was directed that the benefits shall be disbursed as expeditiously as possible, at any rate, within two months from the date of production of a copy of those judgments.

(3.) The petitioner in W.P.(C)No.15633 of 2004 from which W.A. No. 426 of 2011 arose, joined service in PWD on 1/3/1973 as Junior Engineer. He was promoted as Assistant Executive Engineer on 15/3/1985. With effect from 1/1/1996, he was promoted as Executive Engineer. He claims that the said promotion was in pursuance of restructuring of 5-tier system to 7-tier system. According to the petitioner, by Ext.P1 order dtd. 20/6/1998 bearing No. G.O.(MS)No.46/98/PWD produced in that writ petition he was promoted as Special Grade Assistant Executive Engineer and as Executive Engineer with effect from 1/1/1996. He retired on superannuation on 31/10/2001. However, his pay was not fixed to the scale applicable to the post of Executive Engineer. He was not considered for his next promotion as Special Grade Executive Engineer for the vacancy that arose prior to his retirement. Pointing out his grievance, the petitioner filed O.P. No. 31731 of 2001 before this Court which was disposed of by Ext.P2 judgment dtd. 22/10/2001 with a specific direction to the 1st respondent to pass appropriate orders granting him benefits of the promotion. However, the 1st respondent declined to grant the benefits while deciding the matter as per Ext.P4 order dtd. 11/12/2003, claiming that the petitioner was already promoted and was continuing as Executive Engineer before the decision of the Government to withdraw the 7-tier system on 7/10/2003. Then the petitioner filed W.P.(C)No.15633 of 2004 under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking a declaration that the non-inclusion of his name in the beneficiary list dtd. 7/10/2003 passed by the Government limiting the benefit of 7-tier system to 13 promotees alone and also a writ of mandamus commanding the respondents to fix his pay scale as applicable to Executive Engineer, on 1/1/1996.