M B PHANSE Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition is filed by the petitioner, who retired as Additional Principal Judge of the City Civil Court-Ahmedabad, seeking the relief by way of directions to the respondents, to add the period of service rendered by the petitioner as a Member of the Gujarat Civil Services Tribunal, to the pensionable service rendered by him prior to his reemployment and also, to award all consequential benefits, inclusive of arrears of pension and interest on refixation of the pension payable to the petitioner by taking into consideration the period of service rendered by the petitioner as a Member of the Gujarat Civil Services Tribunal.

(2.) The short facts of the petition are as under: The petitioner started his career as a District Judge on 3rd September, 1973. While he was holding the post of Additional Principal Judge of the Ahmedabad City Civil Court, he retired on 31st October, 1983; he was then appointed as a member of the Gujarat Civil Services Tribunal ("the Tribunal" for short) with effect from 24th June, 1985 as his experience in the judiciary rendered him eligible for such appointment. He continued as a Member of the Tribunal till 13th October, 1990. On 26th June, 1991, the petitioner made a representation to the Government to consider his case for payment of pensionary benefits on the basis of more than 25 years' service. The petitioner did not get any reply to his representation from the Government, though the case of the Government is that a decision was taken on the said representation on the file. The petitioner made a second representation dated 12th December, 1998 and as he did not get any reply to the second representation also, he is constrained to file the present petition.

(3.) The Government works through bureaucrats and, therefore, every matter gets a touch of bureaucratic approach. The present case is yet another example of the same. Rule-327 of the Bombay Civil Services Rules ("BCSRs" for short) is very clear, which has a direct bearing on the issue involved in the present petition. For ready reference, rule-327 reads as under: