Gujarat High Court
Member Secretary, Gujarat Water Supply ... vs State Of Gujarat on 21 February, 2025
Author: A.S. Supehia
Bench: A.S. Supehia
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/MCA/557/2025 ORDER DATED: 21/02/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/MISC. CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 557 of 2025
In R/LETTERS PATENT APPEAL NO. 617 of 2024
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MEMBER SECRETARY, GUJARAT WATER SUPPLY AND SEWERAGE
BOARD
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & ORS.
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Appearance:
NIYATI D CHAUHAN(9082) for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR SAHIL TRIVEDI, AGP for the Opponent(s) No. 1,2
MS PRACHI UPADHYAY FOR MR VAIBHAV A VYAS(2896) for the
Opponent(s) No. 3,4,5,6
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA
and
HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE MAUNA M. BHATT
Date : 21/02/2025
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA)
1. Learned advocate appearing for the applicant at the outset, has submitted that the respondents, who are the employees of the applicant-Board, are not entitled to the pensionary benefits and their case would be governed by the subsequent order passed by the Apex Court dated 06.09.2024 in Review being Misc. Application (Diary) No.2400 of 2024 in S.L.P. (C) No.4722 of 2021 and hence, it is urged that this Court may pass the similar common order to that of 14.10.2024 passed in Letters Patent Appeal No.1439 of 2024 and allied matters filed by the applicant-Board.
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2. Learned advocate Ms.Upadhyay has opposed the present application and has submitted that the present review application is not maintainable.
3. It is not in dispute that by the order dated 01.07.2024, this Court had disposed of the captioned Letters Patent Appeal filed by the applicant-Board by placing reliance on the judgement of the Apex Court in the case of Director (Admn. and HR) KPTCL and Others v. C.P. Mundinamani and Others, dated 11.04.2023 and thereafter, the Apex Court clarified the aforesaid judgement and order vide order dated 06.09.2024 passed in Review being Misc. Application (Diary) No.2400 of 2024 in S.L.P. (C) No.4722 of 2021 by issuing following directions:
"(a) The judgment dated 11.04.2023 will be given effect to in case of third parties from the date of the judgment, that is, the pension by taking into account one increment will be payable on and after 01.05.2023. Enhanced pension for the period prior to 31.04.2023 will not be paid.
(b) for persons who have filed writ petitions and succeeded, the directions given in the said judgment will operate as res judicata, and accordingly, an enhanced pension by taking one increment would have to be paid.
(c) The direction in (b) will not apply, where the judgment has not attained finality, and cases where an appeal has been preferred, or if filed, is entertained by the appellate Court.
(d) In case any retired employee has filed any application for intervention/impleadment in Civil Appeal No. 3933/2023 or any other writ petition and a Page 2 of 5 Uploaded by N.V.MEWADA(HC01571) on Tue Feb 25 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Mar 07 23:15:10 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/MCA/557/2025 ORDER DATED: 21/02/2025 undefined beneficial order has been passed, the enhanced pension by including once increment will b payable from the month in which the application for intervention/impleadment was filed."
4. Pursuant to the aforesaid directions, numerous LPAs were filed by the State Government as well as local bodies and accordingly, these appeals were disposed in line with the order dated 06.09.2024 passed by the Apex Court. One of such orders is dated 24.10.2024 passed in Letters Patent Appeal No.1439 of 2024 filed by the present applicant-Board.
5. Thus, the present review application is thus, disposed of in view of the order of this Court dated 14.10.2024 passed in Letters Patent Appeal No.1439 of 2024 and allied matters, while placing reliance on the interim order dated 06.09.2024 passed by the Apex Court in Review being Misc. Application (Diary) No.2400 of 2024 in S.L.P. (C) No.4722 of 2021, relevant observations of which read as under:
"3. The Supreme Court, has clarified the issue for grant of benefit of one increment vide order dated
06.09.2024 as below:
"The issue raised in the present applications requires consideration, insofar as the date of applicability of the judgment dated 11.04.2023 in Civil Appeal No. 2471/2023, titled "Director (Admn. and HR) KPTCL and Others v. C.P. Mundinamani and Others", to third parties is concerned.Page 3 of 5 Uploaded by N.V.MEWADA(HC01571) on Tue Feb 25 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Mar 07 23:15:10 IST 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION C/MCA/557/2025 ORDER DATED: 21/02/2025 undefined We are informed that a large number of fresh writ petitions have been filed.
To prevent any further litigation and confusion, by of an interim order we direct that:
(a) The judgment dated 11.04.2023 will be given effect to in case of third parties from the date of the judgment, that is, the pension by taking into account one increment will be payable on and after 01.05.2023. Enhanced pension for the period prior to 31.04.2023 will not be paid.
(b) For persons who have filed writ petitions and succeeded, the directions given in the said judgment will operate as res judicata, and accordingly, an enhanced pension by taking one increment would have to be paid.
(c) The direction in (b) will not apply, where the judgment has not attained finality, and cases where an appeal has been preferred, or if filed, is entertained by the appellate court.
(d) In case any retired employee has filed any application for intervention/impleadment in Civil Appeal No. 3933/2023 or any other writ petition and a beneficial order has been passed, the enhanced pension by including one increment will be payable from the month in which the application for intervention/impleadment was filed.
This interim order will continue till further orders of this Court. However, no person who has already received an enhanced pension including arrears, will be affected by the directions in
(a), (c) and (d)."
4. Thus, the present appeals are disposed of in terms of the order passed by the Apex Court. The date of conferring of the benefit of one increment shall be extended to the employees in light of the aforesaid order in case they are entitled to the same.
5. With these observations, the present Letters Patent Appeals along with Civil Applications stand disposed of."
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6. It is further clarified that in case, the employees of the applicant-Board are not entitled for pension, the grant of benefit of one increment arising from the decision of this Court as well as the Apex Court in the case of C.P. Mundinamani and Others(supra) will not apply in their case. The issue only pertains to grant of one increment to the pensioner. However, if the employees are entitled to benefit of increment, the same shall be paid as per the order dated 06.09.2024 passed by the Apex Court or any further orders.
Sd/-
(A. S. SUPEHIA, J) Sd/-
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