DHARAM SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner belongs to the category of Scheduled Castes. He was appointed as a Master on Feb. 10 1972 and was confirmed as such on Aug. 12 1975. The petitioner according to the averments made in Paragraph 2 of the writ petition which are not denied was promoted as Headmaster in officiating capacity vide order dated May 13 1983 though w.e.f. May 24 1978. Learned counsel for the petitioner after getting instructions from her client who is present in Court states that no order of confirmation as Headmaster had been passed till he retired from service on Aug. 31 1993.

(2.) According to the Punjab State's policy as envisaged in its letter dated July 23 1957 if a teacher while in service or earlier had acquired higher qualifications then he would be entitled to increments from the date of acquisition of the higher qualifications. The petitioner had acquired qualification of Post Graduation i.e. M.A. on Aug. 11 1978. The petitioner who was working as a Master was denied the grant of increments despite his having acquired the higher qualifications. He along with some similarly situated teachers filed a Writ Petition No. 2632 of 1985 which was allowed on Feb. 21 1986. The LPA against the said judgment and even the S.L.P. filed by the State were dismissed. Despite that the petitioner and some others were not released the advance increments i.e. the benefit of aforesaid judgment which led them to file COCP No. 309 of 1987 in this Court. During the pendency of the Contempt Petition the Punjab Government initially granted the relief to the petitioner on Feb. 9 1988 vide order at Annexure P. 5. However vide order dated march 21 1988 Annexure P-6 the earlier order dated Feb. 9 1988 was withdrawn. The Contempt Petition came up for hearing on Sept. 19 1988. A statement was made on behalf of the respondents that excepting the petitioner relief had been granted to the others. The Bench hearing the Contempt Petition observed that it would be open to the petitioner to agitate the matter separately. Hence the present writ petition.

(3.) The only ground taken in the written statement to deny the benefit of the instruction dated July 23 1957 is that since the petitioner stood promoted as Headmaster w.e.f. May 24 1978 and he had acquired the higher qualifications on Aug. 11 1978 he would not be entitled to the benefit of advance increments. Learned counsel for the petitioner argued that: