STATE OF HARYANA Vs. INDERJIT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an intra-court appeal, under Clause X of the Letters Patent, against judgment dated 20.02.2014, rendered by the learned Single Judge, vide which the civil writ petition preferred by the respondents was allowed and the appellant- State was directed to grant the benefits the respondents were held entitled to i.e. additional increment and higher pay scales by taking into account the work-charge service rendered by the respondents before their services were regularized.

(2.) Learned Single Judge referred to various instructions/schemes that were introduced for the purposes of affording additional increments and higher standard scales to mitigate the effect of stagnation and lack of promotion avenues. It was noticed that initially, the Scheme was introduced vide instructions dated 14.05.1991 for employees belonging to Group 'C' and 'D' as a welfare measure. The said instructions envisaged provisions for additional increments after 10/20 years of service and also the grant of annual increments even after reaching the maximum pay scale in place of biennial increments. The said scheme was modified pursuant to the Government Instructions dated 07.08.1992, vide which additional increments on completion of 8/18 years regular satisfactory service could be provided instead of 10/20 years service. Subsequently, another scheme i.e. the Higher Standard Scales Scheme was notified on 08.02.1994, which was to come in operation from 01.01.1994. The said Scheme envisaged higher standard scales on completion of 10/20 years regular satisfactory service. It would be crucial to note here that the claim of the respondents was predicated on the said Scheme. However, vide instructions dated 29.12.1995, it was clarified that ad hoc/work-charge service could not be factored into while calculating the requisite regular satisfactory service for awarding higher standard scales. As a result, respondents were denied the said benefit.

(3.) Learned Single Judge took cognizance of the fact that the issue, as to whether the period of work-charge service could be counted for the purpose of affording the benefit of additional increments after completion of 8/18 years of service and higher standard scales after completion of 10/20 years service, was determined by this Court and the writ petition preferred by such employees was allowed. It was further noticed that the appellant-State had preferred Special Leave Petition before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The cases of employees, who were claiming the benefit of work-charge service to be counted for the purpose of granting additional increments and higher standard scales, were disposed of vide order dated 30.10.2000 in case titled State of Haryana v. Ravinder Kumar and others [Appeal Nos.5740-5741 of 1997] and the same reads as thus: