JAGDISH KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER has approached this Court, praying for grant of Ist A.C.P scale on completion of 10 years regular satisfactory service on the post of Helper Electrician and thereafter on promotion to the post of an Assistant Electrician for the grant of one grade increment under Rules 4.4 (a) (i) and 4.13 of the Punjab Civil Service Rules, Volume I, Part I (as applicable to Haryana) (for short, "CSR") as he assumed the post with higher responsibilities and duties.

(2.) BRIEFLY , the facts are that the petitioner was appointed as a Helper Electrician in Haryana Roadways and joined as such on 31.05.1988. He was promoted to the post of Assistant Electrician with effect from 28.10.1988 and then, on attaining the age of superannuation, he retired from the said post on 31.01.2006. Petitioner filed Civil Writ Petition No.1188 of 1992 (Ramesh Chand and others Vs. State of Haryana and others), praying therein for grant of technical pay scale of Rs. 1200 -2040 with effect from 01.05.1990. The said writ petition was allowed on 08.03.2010. On the basis of the said prayer having been accepted, pay of the petitioner was accordingly fixed with effect from 01.05.1990. Since the petitioner has not been granted the Ist A.C.P scale, which he would have been entitled to on completion of 10 years service as a Helper Electrician with effect from 19.05.1998 and accordingly the consequential benefits of pay revision, he has approached this Court. In any case, he asserts that even if he is not entitled to grant of A.C.P scale, he would be entitled to grant of one grade increment under Rules 4.4 (a) (i) and 4.13 of CSR on promotion.

(3.) IN the reply, which has been filed by the respondents, the stand of the respondents is that the petitioner was initially appointed as a Helper Electrician on 31.05.1988 in the pay scale of Rs. 750 -940, which scale was revised to Rs. 2550 -3200 with effect from 01.01.1996. He was promoted to the post of Assistant Electrician on 28.10.1998, which carried a pay scale of Rs. 3050 -4350. In compliance with the order passed by this Court in Civil Writ Petition No.1188 of 1992 preferred by the petitioner, his pay was fixed in the technical pay scale of Rs. 1200 -2040 with effect from 01.05.1990 vide order dated 27.09.2010 passed by General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Karnal. After the revision of the pay scale with effect from 01.01.1996, the petitioner was granted the pay scale of Rs. 2550 -3200 and the first A.C.P scale, to which he would have been entitled to on 31.05.1998, would have been Rs. 2650 -4000. Since the pay of the petitioner was already revised on the basis of grant of technical pay scale of Rs. 1200 -2040 with effect from 01.05.1990, he was drawing pay in the higher pay scale of Rs. 4000 -6000 with effect from 01.01.1996, which was higher than his entitlement for the Ist A.C.P scale of Rs. 2650 -4000 and, thus, he could not have been granted the Ist A.C.P scale. Support in this regard has been claimed from the notification dated 07.01.1998 (Annexure R -1), clarifying Rule 5 of the Revised A.C.P Rules, 1998 (for short, "the ACP Rules"). It has been stated that the A.C.P scale can be allowed with reference to the scale of the Government employee on first entry into service. After his promotion on the post of Assistant Electrician with effect from 28.10.1998, which carries a pay scale of Rs. 3050 -4350, which again is less than the pay scale already drawn by the petitioner with effect from 01.01.1996, dis -entitles him to the grant of benefit of Rules 4.4 (a) (i) and 4.13 of CSR. On promotion to the post of an Assistant Electrician, the petitioner has not completed more than 10 years as he superannuated on 31.01.2006 and, thus, is not entitled to grant of second A.C.P scale. Stand has also been taken that the petitioner is not entitled to one increment as he was not promoted to the post of Assistant Electrician from a substantive post as even the said post was an officiating post. Prayer has, thus, been made for dismissal of the writ petition.