K R SHANMUGANATHAN Vs. CHAIRMAN, COMMON CADRE AUTHORITY/JOINT REGISTRAR OF COOP SOCIETIES,; SPECIAL OFFICER, KATTU BRAMMANAVAYAL PRIMARY AGRICULTURAL COOP BANK AND THE SPECIAL OFFICER, KADAMPATTI PRIMARY AGRICULTURAL CO-OP BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition is filed challenging the order dated 19.11.2007 passed by the first respondent, insofar as it relates to denial of salary for the period from 26.11.2002 to 16.04.2007.

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that he was originally appointed as Secretary in the Athani Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank in the year 1982; however, the said bank was dissolved in November 2002; consequently, along with other employees, he was also discharged from service; however, the Government has passed an order in G.O.Ms. No. 55, Co-operative, Food and Civil Supplies Department dated 24.03.2000 constituting a Common Cadre Service for Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank in the post of Secretary; as per the said order, the post of Secretary comes under the Common Cadre Service; as far as the employees of these Common Cadre Service are concerned, the scale of pay, allowances and other service benefits of this Cadre shall be decided by the Government from time to time; as per Clause 12 of the said Government Order, the date of entry into the post of Secretary will be the criterion for fixing inter-se seniority; apart from this, as per Clauses 17 and 18 of the said Government Order, they are also liable for transfer; as per Clause 21 of the said Government Order, the Cadre Authority may retrench any Cadre employee from the service of the Common Cadre in order to effect economy and while doing so, the juniormost member in the Cadre Service shall be retrenched and such surplus employee in the Common Cadre shall be absorbed in the parent bank; as far as the case of the petitioner is concerned, on the dissolution of the Athani Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank wherein the petitioner was working, he was discharged from the Bank with effect from 26.11.2002; in spite of his repeated requests, he was not absorbed in any bank; consequently, he had filed W.P. No. 709 of 2004, wherein directions were given to consider his case with regard to his absorption in any suitable post and in the Writ Appeal, the Common Cadre Authority was directed to examine the case of the petitioner and to pass orders. Consequence of this, the order dated 19.11.2007 was passed by the Common Cadre Authority by which the petitioner was absorbed in T.58 Kattu Brammanavayal Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank; however, as per this order, the interregnum period from 26.11.2002 to 16.04.2007 was treated as non-employment period and no pay was paid on the ground of "No Work-No Pay". Challenging that portion of the order, this Writ Petition is filed.

(3.) As far as this order is concerned, since the petitioner was not given any posting during the above said interregnum period, he was not paid the pay. But, as far as the petitioner is concerned, he was working as Secretary and he comes under the Common Cadre. As far as the Common Cadre employees are concerned, the Government has issued specific service regulations under the nomenclature "Tamil Nadu Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank Common Cadre Service Rules of 2000". Clause 12 of the said Rules deals with the seniority as per which inter-se seniority is to be maintained. As far as the retrenchment is concerned, it is dealt with in Clause 21 of G.O. Ms. No. 55 as per which, if any Common Cadre employee is surplus, he can be ousted from service on the ground that he is a surplus employee. However, only the juniormost member in the Cadre service has to be ousted. Clauses 17 and 18 of the said Government Order deal with the transfer and posting of these Common Cadre employees.