RAJ KUMAR AHLAWAT Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a Physical Training Instructor in the State of Haryana, prays for the issue of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to release the selection grade on his completing 18 years of service viz. October 25, 1978. A few facts as are relevant for the decision of this case may briefly be noticed.

(2.) The petitioner joined service under the Central Government as an Instructor under the National Discipline Scheme. He was appointed on October 24, 1960. This scheme had been prepared by the Government under the National Fitness Corps Programme. Subsequently, there was a decision to decentralise the scheme. On October 1, 1972, the administrative control over the Instructors who had been posted in various Government/private schools in the State of Haryana was transferred to the State Government with effect from October 1, 1972. On October 14, 1976 the State Government issued an order by which it sanctioned 311 posts of Physical Instructors in the pay scale of Rs. 125-5-150/5-250. It also sanctioned 14 posts of Director, Physical Education in the scale of Rs. 220-8-300-10-400. It was further decided that 15 per cent of the posts for both the cadres will be in the selection grade of Rs. 250-10-300 and Rs. 400-20-600, respectively. It was also decided that all the Instructors under the National Discipline Scheme working in the State Government be absorbed with effect from July 1, 1976, and placed in the scales of pay sanctioned for the different posts. The sanction was subject to certain conditions. One of these conditions was that the employees working in the National Discipline Scheme shall be kept in a separate block without disturbing their inter se seniority and that ''it will be a diminishing cadre___________''. In pursuance of this policy decision, the petitioner was appointed as a Physical Training Instructor (N.F.C.) in the pay scale of Rs. 125-250 with effect from July 1, 1976. A copy of the order dated October 15, 1976, issued by the Director of Public Instruction, Haryana, in this behalf is as Annexure P-2 with the writ petition. The appointment was purely on temporary basis. It was, however, stipulated that ''from the date of absorption in the State service he will be entitled to all allowances as admissible to other State employees of this cadre''.

(3.) Before the petitioner was actually absorbed as Physical Training Instructor in the State of Haryana, the Government had issued a letter dated January 31, 1975, regarding the grant of selection grade to ''the Provincialised Teachers''. A copy of this letter is at Annexure P-3 with the writ petition. By this letter sanction of the Government of Haryana was conveyed to the Department for the grant of ''selection grade with effect from 1.10.1974 to these Masters/Teachers borne on Provincialised Cadre who have completed 18 years of service on that date and from then onwards to ______''. After his absorption in the State service, the petitioner submitted a representation to the Minister praying that he should also be granted the selection grade in accordance with the letter issued by the State Government on January 31, 1975. The claim was examined but the State Government found no ground to grant any relief. Since the petitioner did not hear anything in reply, he approached this Court through the present writ petition. The petitioner alleges that the action of the State Government in not releasing the selection grade to him is violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. Accordingly, he prays for the issue of a direction to the respondents regarding the grant of selection grade.