PRITPAL KAUR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner initially joined respondent as a Junior Lecturer on 13.11.1986 and was promoted as a Senior Lecturer on 5.2.1996. Thereafter, she was promoted to the post of Head of Department (Applied Sciences) on 30.8.2000, where she joined on 18.9.2000. The petitioner retired from service on 30.4.2012 on attaining the age of superannuation. The claim of the petitioner is that vide notification dated 17.4.2000 (Annexure-P-2), the benefit of Dynamic Assured Career Progression Scheme (in short 'Dynamic ACP Scheme') was introduced and extended to 11 categories of officers mentioned in the said scheme. The post of Lecturer working in the Department of Technical Education and Industrial Training was not added therein. However, it was added as 12th category subsequently with effect from 28.5.2009, vide instructions endorsed on 22.12.2011 (Annexure-P-7), whereby the benefit of the said Dynamic ACP Scheme was extended to Lecturers of Technical Education and Industrial Training also. The petitioner claims that similarly situated employees, namely, Harjinder Singh, Head of Department, Sukhwinder Partap Rana, Head of Department, Bahadur Singh, Head of Department (Pharmacy) and Minakshi Singla, Senior Lecturer were allowed the said Dynamic ACP Scheme on completion of 14 years of service, whereas the same has been declined to the petitioner.

(2.) In the reply, respondents have taken the stand that the said employees were directly appointed as Lecturers and the benefit of the Dynamic ACP Scheme was granted to them. Minakshi Singla was appointed as a Lecturer in Chemistry in compliance of the order passed by this Court on 1.11992 in LPA No. 1004 of 1990 and LPA No. 740 of 1990. The petitioner was not directly appointed in the pay scale of Rs. 2200-4000. Her post of Junior Lecturer was converted to the post of Lecturer, vide letter No. 5/11/86-3 TE2/Spl./344 dated 27.7.1987. As such, she was not granted the benefit of Dynamic ACP Scheme. It was further stated that the Department of Personnel, vide memo dated 28.10.2013 (Annexure-P-18), clarified that the Head of Department is not covered in the letter No. 7/60/2006-5P.P.1/881 dated 212011.

(3.) In the replication, the petitioner has given the list of 25 more persons, who according to her, were Heads of Department and were granted the Dynamic ACP Scheme.