ASHOK KANOJIA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BOTH the aforesaid writ petitions involve a common point in issue and as such both the writ petitions are being decided by a common judgement.

(2.) THE petitioners in both the aforesaid writ petitions are aggrieved by the rejection of their representation whereby they have been denied the grade pay of Rs. 8,700/ - pertaining to the post of Superintending Engineer. In Writ Petition No. 236 (SB) of 2013 the State has filed counter affidavit while in connected Writ Petition No. 1440 (SB) of 2013 the State has adopted the counter affidavit filed in the connected Writ Petition No. 236 (SB) of 2013. The petitioner in the Writ Petition No. 236 (SB) of 2013 is serving as Superintending Engineer in the Public Works Department while the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 1440 (SB) of 2013 is serving as Superintending Engineer in the Irrigation Department.

(3.) THE facts which are admitted to both the parties are that the State Government by its order dated 26.07.1990 took a decision for grant of revised pay scale and time scale to the Engineers of Public Works Department. The said decision was taken on the recommendation of Samta Samiti Report -1989. The Government Order provided that such Assistant Engineers who have completed 18 years of satisfactory regular and continuous service and have not been promoted, shall be granted personal pay scale of Rs. 3700 -5000. The State Government vide its order dated 02.12.2000 sanctioned time scales to different categories of State employees. The Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh issued order dated 05.12.2001 regarding fixation of standard /normal for restructuring of cadres for the purpose of enhancement of promotional avenues of the officers serving in the pay scale of Rs. 8000 -10500. The order further provided that restructuring of cadres should be done by 31.12.2001. The Principal Secretary (Finance) Government of Uttar Pradesh issued explanations on 20.08.2004 and in paragraph 7 of the explanations it was provided that time bound pay scale should be given with a view to check stagnation. The petitioner of Writ Petition No. 236 (SB) of 2013 was appointed as Assistant Engineer in Public Works Department in the month of January, 1990, while the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 1440 (SB) of 2013 were appointed as Junior Engineers and in the year 1989 they were promoted to the post of Assistant Engineers in the Department of Irrigation. They were promoted to the post of Executive Engineer in the year 2010. However, prior to their promotion to the post of Executive Engineer, they were granted scale of Superintending Engineer on completion of 18 years of satisfactory service. In the year 2011 the State Government upgraded the pay scale of Superintending Engineers to 37400 - 67000 with the grade pay of Rs. 8700/ -. The petitioners of both the writ petitions were given benefit of the aforesaid Government Order and their salary was fixed and upgraded to the pay scale of Rs. 37400 -67000 in Pay Band -IV with grade pay of Rs. 8700/ -. It appears that subsequent to fixation of their pay scale, the Department through Engineer -in -Chief sought clarification from the State Government with regard to payment of salary being paid to the Engineers under the Government Order dated 18.5.2011. The petitioners of Writ Petition No. 1440 (SB) of 2013 feeling aggrieved by the aforesaid action of their department filed a writ petition being Writ Petition No. 578 (SB) of 2012 on the premise of impugned order being issued without any show cause notice to them.