MANORANJAN HOTA Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners have filed this writ application with the following prayer:

(2.) The facts of the case are that Govt. of Odisha in the Department of Panchayati Raj created the post of Asst. Project Manager (Finance) in District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) by order dtd. 18/11/1996 as per staffing pattern meant for Class-II officers of the State Govt. with regular scale of pay of Rs.2000.003500/-. The petitioners applied for the said posts pursuant to an open advertisement and after undergoing a selection process, were appointed against such posts. Their pay scale was subsequently revised in the pay band of Rs.9300.00 34800/- with grade pay of Rs.4600.00. Because of lack of promotional avenues, the petitioners approached this Court in W.P.(C) No.32335 of 2011 for a direction to the authorities to create promotional avenues for them or in the alternative, to grant higher scale of pay at par with Class-I officers of the State Govt. During pendency of the said writ petition the Govt. vide letter dtd. 10/12/2014 took a decision to fill up the posts of Addl. Project Director (Finance) in DRDAs by officers from the Odisha Finance Service on deputation ignoring the case of the petitioners. As such, they again approached this Court in W.P.(C) No. 24678 of 2014 with prayer to quash the letter dtd. 10/12/2014 and to direct the Govt. to fill up the posts by the petitioners. This Court, by order dtd. 19/12/2014 directed as an interim measure that any appointment made shall abide by the result of the writ petition. However, the claim of the petitioners for promotion was rejected by order dtd. 12/5/2020. The petitioners therefore, filed a contempt petition being CONTC No. 2110 of 2010. During pendency of the contempt petition the Govt. decided to abolish the DRDAs in the state by merging them with the Zilla Parishads. The post of Asst. Project Manager (Finance) was merged with the newly created post of Senior Programme Manager (Finance) carrying same pay scale. The six petitioners herein have been continuing in 6 out of 7 such posts newly created. The higher post of Addl. Project Manager (Finance) was merged with the newly created post of Addl. Executive Officer (Finance). At this stage and during pendency of the aforementioned two writ petitions the Govt. by notification dtd. 16/2/2015 transferred the petitioners to different DRDAs. Said notification was challenged by one of the petitioners namely, Deepak Kumar Biswal in W.P.(C) No. 2953 of 2015. By order dtd. 24/7/2015, this Court quashed the order of transfer in respect of the said petitioner as it was passed without complying with the provisions contained in Regulation 15 of the Odisha District Rural Development Agency Employees (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Regulations, 1989 (for short, 'DRDA Regulations 1989'). However, the Director, Panchayati Raj vide order dtd. 14/7/2023 transferred the petitioners to different Zilla Parishads (Copy enclosed as Annexure-7). The petitioners again approached this Court in W.P.(C) No. 22459 of 2023, which was disposed of by order dtd. 19/7/2023 by keeping the impugned order in abeyance and granting liberty to them to submit a fresh representation before the Director with further direction to the Director to consider the same as per Regulation 15 of the DRDA Regulation 1989. The petitioners submitted their representations but the same has been rejected by the Director vide order dtd. 14/9/2023 on the ground that after framing of the Odisha Zilla Parishad Employees Service (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2023 (for short, 'Zilla Parishad Rules, 2023') the petitioners are of the state cadre. Said order is enclosed as Annexure-12 to the writ petition.

(3.) The opposite parties have not filed any counter to the writ petition but the state counsel preferred to make oral submissions as it was felt that the matter could be finally disposed of at the sage of admission since the facts are not disputed and only a point of law is involved.