PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, FINANCE DEPARTMENT, SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Vs. K.V. GIRIJA DEVI, T.C. 3/1266, PATTOM, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The State of Kerala and two of its functionaries, who are the respondents in O.A. No. 1280 of 2016, on the files of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal, have filed this Original petition, impugning the order of the Tribunal dated 20.02.2017, allowing the said application.

(2.) We have heard the learned Senior Government Pleader appearing on behalf of the petitioners .

(3.) The constitutive facts that are before us in the pleadings in this Original petition is that the respondents herein, who are the applicants before the learned Tribunal, were originally working as Sr. Superintendents in the Irrigation Department. While so, they were appointed as Divisional Accountants under Rule 9(a)(i) of KS and SSR. It appears that they were appointed as Divisional Accountants on 02.07.1997, 05.09.1997, 18.09.1997 and 17.07.1998 respectively. The pleadings are to the effect that while they were continuing so, an admitted junior of them, viz., one V.M. Gurudas, was also offered such provisional appointment and that he joined the service on 16.09.1998. According to the averments in the O.A., before Shri V.M. Gurudas joined service, the 1998 Pay Revision Orders had been issued and that the respondents had not been granted the increments due to them in the revised Scale, whereas Shri Gurudas had already availed of such pay revision, and because of this the consequence was that Shri V.M. Gurudas who is admittedly a junior to the respondents herein, was sanctioned a higher Scale of Pay when his fixation was done under Rule 28 A Part I, KSR. The respondents, therefore, justifiably sought that their Pay Scale may also be stepped up to make it on par with that of their junior Shri V.M. Gurudas, seeking the benefit of a Government order, Annexure A2 order dated 01.02.2001. In the said order, the claim of seniors, who were appointed on provisional basis, were allowed to be on par with that of the juniors, who are also appointed on provisional basis. This order was followed by Annexure A2 order where the Government went on to hold that the Divisional Accountants who were appointed on provisional basis were also eligible for junior-senior fixation of pay, as provided in Annexure A1 order. Annexure A3 order was thereafter consequentially passed, granting the benefit of the stepped up pay to the respondents 1, 3 and 4 herein, so as to equate their Scale of Pay with that of Sri V.M. Gurudas.