OM PARKASH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Present writ petition has been filed under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India seeking issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing the order/letter dated 10.12.2001 (Annexure P/6) vide which the claim of the petitioner for grant of first ACP of Rs. 4000- 6000 w.e.f. 1.1.1996 and second ACP of Rs. 5000-7850 on completion of 20 years of service has been rejected and further for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the official respondents to grant the ACPs as mentioned above.

(2.) Brief facts of the case are that petitioner joined the respondentdepartment as Peon on 25.08.1966. Thereafter, the petitioner was promoted as Clerk on 14.02.1981. Respondent No.4 Ashok Kumar was appointed directly on 15.11.1983 as Clerk. Government of Haryana issued instructions dated 08.02.1994 to provide First Higher Standard Pay Scale and Second Higher Standard Pay Scale to its Class III and Class IV employees on completion of 10 and 20 years of regular satisfactory service, respectively. However, the said benefit of higher standard pay scales was to be granted only to those class III and IV employees who had not got any promotion in their service career. The petitioner had completed 20 years of service and got one promotion, therefore, he was granted the First Higher Standard Pay Scale of Rs. 1200- 2040 as applicable to a Clerk. Similarly respondent No.4 had completed more than 10 years service, therefore, he was also granted the First Higher Standard Pay Scale of Rs. 1200-2040. Government of Haryana vide its Revised Pay Rules, 1998 sought to revise the pay scale of its employees w.e.f. 01.01.1996. However, in new pay scales, petitioner was granted the pay scale of Rs. 3050-4590, whereas his juniors like respondent No.4 were granted the pay scale of Rs. 4000-6000. As a consequence of grant of higher pay scale to respondent No.4, who is much junior to the petitioner in the cadre of Clerks, his basic pay was fixed at the stage of Rs. 4000/- on 01.01.996 by granting him the First ACP Scale of Rs. 4000-6000, whereas the pay of the petitioner was fixed at Rs. 3800/- on 01.01.1996 in the pay scale of Rs. 3050-4590 as he was not granted the benefit of First ACP because he got promotion from the post of Peon to the post of Clerk. Petitioner requested and represented to the respondent-department to grant him the pay scale as being granted to his juniors. He also served legal notices on the respondent-department.

(3.) This case was adjourned since die on 28.02.2005 to await the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in SLP No.20959 of 2002. This case has now been listed for hearing by the Registry with the report that the Special Leave Petition No. 20959 of 2002 has been converted into CA No.3262 of 2006 and the same has been disposed of on 2.8.2006. CA No.3262 of 2006 has been decided along with a bunch of identical cases, including C.A. No.3250 of 2006 titled 'Commissioner and Secretary to Government of Haryana and others vs. Ram Sarup Ganda and others, 2007 2 SCT 476'. The judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, copy whereof has been placed on the file, wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held as under: -