SURENDRANATH PRADHAN Vs. BOARD OF GOVERNORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has approached this Court with a twofold grievance- firstly, despite being promoted to the post of Professor w.e.f. 1/1/2004 retrospectively, he was not granted the financial benefits attached to such post and secondly, his pay in the promotional post was fixed erroneously being contrary to the provisions of the Odisha Revised Scale of Pay Rules and Odisha Service Code.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner was initially appointed as Lecturer in Economics on adhoc basis in Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Sarang (IGIT) by order dtd. 20/1/1983. He joined as such on 27/1/1983. His services were subsequently regularized with effect from the date of his joining. The petitioner was promoted as Senior Lecturer w.e.f. 27/1/1990. Again, the petitioner was eligible to be promoted to the next higher post of Asst. Processor w.e.f. 1/1/1996 but was promoted w.e.f. 19/12/1997. Subsequently, however, such promotion was revised by order dtd. 29/8/2008 and made effective from 1/1/1996. The petitioner applied for further promotion to the post of Professor under the Career Advancement Scheme but claims to have been arbitrarily denied. Subsequently also he applied for promotion and faced interview on 23/8/2006 but was disqualified by awarding him less marks than the minimum qualifying. Ultimately, he was promoted as Professor w.e.f. 15/3/2007 even though he was eligible for such promotion w.e.f. 1/1/2004. The petitioner had approached this Court in W.P.(C) No.5343 of 2007 challenging the discrepancies in the marks awarded to him for selection to the post of Professor. Such writ petition was disposed of on 2/12/2010 granting liberty to the petitioner to make a representation to be considered by the authorities. The petitioner submitted a representation on 30/12/2010 but the same was rejected. He approached the Chairman of the Board of Governors by submitting another representation. After considering the relevant facts, the Chairman allowed the representation and issued necessary directions. Pursuant to such intervention by the Chairman, the order dtd. 21/3/2007 granting promotion to the petitioner w.e.f.15/3/2007 was modified by revising the date of promotion to 1/1/2004 in the scale of pay Rs.16,400.0022,400/- without any arrear claim. According to the petitioner, he having been wrongly deprived of promotion, is entitled to all the financial benefits for the period from 1/1/2004 to 15/3/2007 and differential pay. It is his further case that even otherwise, his pay in the promotional post was fixed at Rs.16,400.00, which was less than his existing pay as one increment of Rs.450.00 was not allowed. According to the petitioner, the pay should have been fixed at Rs.16,850.00 instead of Rs.16,400.00 as per Rule 74(b) of the Odisha Service Code. On such facts, the petitioner prays for a direction to the opposite party authorities to grant him arrear pay in the promotional post of Professor w.e.f. 1/1/2004 to 15/3/2007 and for re-fixation of his pay in the promotional post @Rs.16,850.00 with consequential revision of the pensionary benefits. It is alleged that the persons similarly situated as the petitioner have been granted financial benefits despite being promoted with retrospective effect.

(3.) The opposite party authorities have filed a counter. After referring to the undisputed facts, it is specifically stated that none of the teaching staff, who have got promotion under the Career Advancement Scheme has been extended the arrear benefits. On the contrary, the other Professors, who were promoted retrospectively like the petitioner, have not been extended with any such financial benefits retrospectively. It is further stated that the promotion to the post of Professor was granted to the petitioner retrospectively without any arrear claim as per decision of the Finance Committee of the Board of Governors.