AGGARWAL B L Vs. HIMACHAL CONSULTANCY ORGANISATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner herein Mr. B. L. Aggarwal joined the services of respondent No. 1 namely, Himachal Consultancy Organisation Ltd. , (in short HIMCON) on March 15, 1982 as an Administrative Officer and after putting in more than ten years of service he retired on June 30, 1992. The petitioner has two grievances i. e. non-payment of gratuity for the entire service period of ten years and non-granting of increments due on March 1, 1989 and March 1, 1992 of Rs. 30/- and 65/-respectively. According to the petitioner, had these two increments been granted to him, his last pay drawn would have been Rs. 4053/- per month. There is no dispute that the post of the petitioner was redesignated as Statistical Officer w. e. f. December 18, 1989 but he was given the lowest pay scale of the post although, according to the petitioner, he was entitled to get a higher pay scale of Rs. 1400-2500 and thus on his retirement his monthly pay would have been Rs. 4053/ -. The petitioner prays for an appropriate writ to the respondents for fixing his salary as Statistical Officer in the grade of Rs. 1400-2500 and also to grant him increments. It may be stated that some amount of gratuity was paid to the petitioner but he has prayed for a direction to the respondents to grant him gratuity for the entire length of service namely ten years. He has also prayed for interest at the rate of 18% per annum on the amount due.

(2.) INDUSTRIAL Finance Corporation of India has been impleaded as respondent No. 2 in this writ petition but the petition is resisted only by respondentno. l, HIMCON.

(3.) IN the reply affidavit filed on behalf of respondent No. 1, a preliminary objection has been raised that respondent No. l is owned and controlled by the Government and hence is not amenable to writ jurisdiction. According to the contesting respondent the petitioner was appointed on ad hoc basis as Administrative Officer for a period of six months initially vide Annexure R-l/ A. This period was extended for another six months or till the post is filled up on regular basis by office order dated September 20, 1982 vide Annexure R-1/b. Thereafter the services of the petitioner were regularised as Administrative Officer w. e. f. March 15, 1983 in the pay scale of Rs. 450-700 "with a probation period of one year" vide Annexure R-l/c. The period of probation, according to the respondent, was further extended upto September 14, 1984 and the petitioner was given opportunities to improve his performance vide Annexure R-1/e. According to the respondent though the petitioner was due to get his annual increment from March 1, 1984 but it was deferred in view of his poor performance and also in view of the extension of his probationary period. Again the period of probation was extended for six months vide Annexure R-l/f. It has been stated in the reply affidavit, that a subcommittee was constituted to consider the case of the petitioner and it was suggested that the respondent may absorb his service as Assistant (Statistical) in the pay scale of Rs. 700-1200 as against the pay scale of Rs. 800-1400 which was duly accepted by the petitioner. This post was redesignated as Statistical Officer in the same pay scale w. e. f. December 18, 1989, vide Annexure R-1/h. Regarding gratuity it has been stated in the reply affidavit that the petitioner is not entitled to get gratuity at the rates claimed by him as he did not complete ten years of regular service as he was regularised and confirmed only on March 15, 1985,