STATE OF KERALA Vs. SUNNY JOSEPH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondents who were working as Librarian Grade I in the Common Pool Librarians under the Higher Education Department passed the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on 18/9/2012 and 25/3/2013, respectively and thereby became eligible for promotion to the UGC Scheme. As per Annexure A3 order, the respondents were posted as UGC Librarians in the UGC Scheme by stipulating that till their pay is fixed in the UGC Scheme, they will be eligible only for their existing pay in the State scale.

(2.) The respondents submitted a representation to the Government claiming that as per Annexure A8 Government order, the scale of pay granted to the College Librarians is also accepted for UGC Librarians under the Common Pool, and the UGC Librarians will be given further placement after eight or sixteen years, taking into account their service starting with Librarian Grade I under the Common Pool and thus the respondents are also entitled to three placements (Librarian Senior Scale, Librarian Selection Grade and Librarian Special Scale) under UGC scale as they have completed more than eighteen years service. The respondents also contended that as per Annexure A10 Government order, a person promoted to the UGC scale would get the protection of pay if the UGC pay is lower than the existing pay.

(3.) On 2/7/2018, the Government issued Annexure A15 order stating that even though the respondents were working as Librarians Grade I from the year 2000, they acquired UGC qualification only after 12/13 years, and thus they could claim UGC scale only after they qualified NET. It is further stated, as per Annexure A8 Government order dtd. 19/1/2006, only UGC qualified Grade I Librarians can be selected to the post of UGC Librarian. It is also observed in Annexure A15 that though the Government had taken a lenient view in the case of certain Librarians, it was done in the early days by considering the preliminary stage of the UGC Scheme in the stream of Librarians. It was also observed that the Accountant General fixed the pay of the applicants as directed by the Government.