STATE OF TAMIL NADU Vs. TAMIL NADU STATE LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY ADMINISTRATIVE AND OFFICE ASSISTANTS WELFARE ASSOCIATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ appeal concerns the right of the staff working in the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority to claim pension right from the date on which they were employed in the Tamil Nadu Legal Aid and Advice Board. The State of Tamil Nadu in discharge of its constitutional obligation as spelt out in Art.39A of the Constitution of India set up the Tamil Nadu Legal Aid and Advice Board by G.O. Ms. No. 3048 Home (Courts IV) Department dated 3 December 1976. This was to secure as per the Constitutional mandate that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity and in particular, to provide free legal aid so that no specific person is denied the opportunity to secure justice by reason of economic or other disabilities. The Board was registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975. It was governed by Tamil Nadu Legal Aid and Advice Board Rules and the bye - laws were published in the Tamil Nadu Gazette. Clause 3 of the Memorandum provided that the object of the Board inter alia would be to offer legal aid to poor and deserving persons. Clause 4 of the memorandum provided that the management of the affairs of the State Board shall vest in the governing body which comprised of His Excellency the Governor, the Hon 'ble Chief Justice as patron in Chief, the Hon 'ble Law Minister as patron and other members were drawn from the Governmentapart from the Presidents of the Bar Association and Advocates Association. Rule 22 dealt with the funds of the State Board provided that the funds shall consist of grants of the Central or State Government or Local authority or donations or subscriptions by institutions or other persons. The utilization of funds was also audited by the State Government. In 1987, Parliament enacted the Legal Services Authorities Act. But it is only by notification, dated 9 November 1995, that the provisions of the Act came into force and by notification, dated 6 March 1997, the date on which the provisions of Chapter III of the said Act came into force in the State of Tamil Nadu. By GO. Ms. No. 1577 Home (Courts -IV) Department, dated 29 October 1997, the State Legal Services Authority was constituted and the Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid was to be dissolved. Since the status of the staff of the Board after its dissolution had to be decided, the Government after careful examination decided to accept the proposal of the Secretary of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Aid and Advice Board and directed that the cadre strength of the State Legal Services Authority was to be fixed as in Annexure I of the said order. The Government also directed that the staff shall be absorbed in the newly constituted Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority without change in their nomenclature and existing scale of pay with effect from 1 November 1997.

(2.) ON 3 December 2004, the then Registrar -General of the High Court addressed a letter to the Chief Secretary referring to the various Government orders, and stated that if the Letter No. 29016/Cts.IV/ 2001, dated 10 February 2003, stating that the pensionary benefits should be admissible to the employees only with effect from 1 November 1997 is put into effect then these employees, with whose dedicated work Legal Services Authority had carved an enviable niche in the arena of the legal services, would feel frustrated. The letter stressed the fact that the past services of the employees must be taken into consideration and that that the whole strength of the employees of the authorities in the entire State does not exceed 207. A similar letter was again addressed to the Chief Secretary on 21 February 2005. On 8 April 2005, the Government responded that this request cannot be complied with. Immediately, the writ petition was filed. The learned Single Judge allowed the writ petition directing the respondents to count the past services of all permanent employees quashing the impugned letter. Against that, the Government has filed this appeal.

(3.) THE learned senior counsel appearing for the writ -petitioners namely the employees of the Legal Services Authority would submit that Rule 11 cannot be put against the petitioners. Further it was submitted that two other States namely State of Andhra Pradesh as well as the Union Territory of Pondicherry had enacted Rules which provided for reckoning of the service with the Board for all practical purposes. In addition, the learned senior counsel also submitted that in similar cases of absorption of staff in Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department, Tamil Nadu lyal lasai Nataka Mandram and absorption of staff, of the District Boards in Medical and Public Health Departments of the Government, the benefit of counting past services for the purposes of pension had been granted and the denial of the same to the writ -petitioners would be arbitrary. It is also seen that the governing body comprised of his excellency the Governor, the Hon 'ble Chief Justice as patron -in -Chief, the Hon 'ble Law Minister as patron, therefore, except for the fact the Board was registered as a society, the nature of work was the same.