Jharkhand High Court
Manjula Sanga vs The State Of Jharkhand on 2 February, 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND, RANCHI
W.P.(S) No. 3801 of 2020
1. Manjula Sanga, daughter of Late Milman Paul Sanga
2. Kameshwar Prasad, son of late Bhageshwari Prasad
3. Namita Gupta, daughter of late D.N.P. Gupta
4. Rajendra Nath Sinha, son of late Ratneshwar Prasad Sinha
5. Anjana Verma, daughter of late Shashi Bhushan Verma
6. Saheb Bahadur, son of late Jai Bahadur Prasad
7. Satya Deo Suman Singh, son of late Ram Surat Singh
8. Margaret Lakra, daughter of late Elies Lakra
9. Rajesh Kumar, son of late Bishwanath Sahay
10. Md. Noor Alam, son of late Md. Ibrahim
11. Rajiv Kumar Dwivedi, son of late Alakh Deo Dubey
12. Shubha Srivastava, wife of Kaushal Kishore Srivastava
13. Om Prakash Mahto, son of late Shri Sitaram Mahto
14. Ajay Murari, son of late Dr. Madan Murari
15. Ashok Kumar Gupta, son of late Chhotu Ram
16. Md. Islam, son of late Hafiz Amiruddin
..... Petitioners
-- Versus -
1.The State of Jharkhand
2. Secretary, Department of Higher and Technical Education, Govt. of
Jharkhand, Ranchi
3.The Vice Chancellor, Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh,
4.The Registrar, Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh,
...... Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR DWIVEDI
For the Petitioner :- Mr. Saurav Arun, Advocate
For Resp.-State :- Mr. Rahul Saboo, S.C.-I
For V.B. University:- Mr. Amresh Kumar, Advocate
4./Dated:-02.02.2021
Heard Mr. Saurav Arun, the learned counsel for the petitioner,
Mr. Rahul Saboo, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the
respondent State and Mr. Amresh Kumar, learned counsel for the
respondent-V.B. University.
2. This writ petition has been heard through Video Conferencing in
view of the guidelines of the High Court taking into account the
situation arising due to COVID-19 pandemic. None of the parties have
complained about any technical snag of audio-video and with their
consent this matter has been heard.
3. The petitioners have preferred this writ petition for direction
upon the respondents for payment of the arrears of salary as per 5th,
6th and 7th pay revision to the petitioner in the pay scale of Rs.12000-
420- 18300/- with effect from 01.01.1996 till 30.05.2005 which has not
been paid to the petitioner as the issue is no more res integra and
decided by this Court and also affirmed up to the Division Bench of this
Court by which the issue regarding two pay scales of Reader have
been struck down considering only one post of Reader in view of the
judgment passed by this Court in W.P.(S) No.4162 of 2013 affirmed in
L.P.A. No.661 of 2019.
4. Mr. Saurav Arun, the learned counsel for the petitioners submits
that the petitioner no. 1 was appointed as a Lecturer in St. Columbus
College, on 28.11.1981, promoted as Reader on 28.11.1991 and done
Ph.D in the year, 1998 and retired on 30.04..2020 from Kolhan
University. The petitioner no. 1 was Lecturer in the subject of Hindi.
Petitioner no. 2 was appointed as a Lecturer in R.S. College,
Govindpur, Dhanbad on 24.11.1981, promoted as Reader on
24.11.1991 and done Ph.D in the year, 1999 and presently posted at
PG Department of Physics at Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh. The
petitioner no. 2 was Lecturer in the subject of Physics. Petitioner no. 3
was appointed as a Lecturer in the subject of Psychology in
Jamshedpur Womens' College on 11.12.1981, promoted as Reader on
11.12.1991 and done Ph.D in the year, 2002 and going to retire on
31.12.2022. Petitioner no. 4 was appointed as a Lecturer in the subject
of Physics in B.S.K. College, Maithon on 03.12.1981, promoted as
Reader on 03.12.1991 and done Ph.D in the year, 1999 and going to
retire on 30.04.2023. Petitioner no. 5 was appointed as a Lecturer in
the subject of Zoology in Bokaro Steel City College on 24.11.1981,
promoted as Reader on 24.11.1991 and done Ph.D in the year, 1999
and going to retire on 31.01.2022. Petitioner no. 6 was appointed as a
Lecturer in the subject of Commerce in J.N. College, Dhurwa on
02.01.1979, promoted as Reader on 02.01.1989 and done Ph.D in the
year, 1998 and going to retire on 31.12.2021. Petitioner no. 7 was
appointed as a Lecturer in the subject of Chemistry in St. Columbus
College, Hazaribagh on 11.01.1982, promoted as Reader on
11.01.1992 and done Ph.D in the year, 2012 and going to retire on
28.02.2023. Petitioner no.8 was appointed as a Lecturer in the subject
of Political Science in Birsa College, Khunti on 12.12.1981, promoted as
Reader on 12.12.1991 and done Ph.D in the year, 1998 and going to
retire on 31.12.2021. Petitioner no. 9 was appointed as a Lecturer in
the subject of English in R.S.P. College, Jharia on 28.11.1981,
promoted as Reader on 28.11.1991 and done Ph.D in the year, 2001
and going to retire on 31.10.2022. Petitioner no. 10 was appointed as
a Lecturer in the subject of Zoology on 26.11.1981, promoted as
Reader on 26.11.1989 and done Ph.D in the year, 1988 and retired on
29.02.2020 from Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh. Petitioner no.
11 was appointed as a Lecturer in the subject of Mathematics in Sindri
College, Sindri on 15.01.1982, promoted as Reader on 28.01.1992 and
done Ph.D in the year, 2003 and going to retire on 31.10.2023.
Petitioner no. 12 was appointed as a Lecturer in the subject of
Chemistry in Mahila College, Chaibasa on 01.02.1979, promoted as
Reader on 01.02.1989 and done Ph.D in the year, 1998 and going to
retire on 01.09.2021. Petitioner no. 13 was appointed as a Lecturer in
the subject of Geography in St. Columbus College, Hazaribagh on
16.03.1982, promoted as Reader on 16.03.1992 and done Ph.D in the
year, 2002 and retied on 31.01.2020 from the Department of
Geography, Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh. Petitioner no. 14
was appointed as a Lecturer in the subject of Physics in K.O. College,
Gumla on 25.11.1981, promoted as Reader on 25.11.1991 and done
Ph.D in the year, 1996 and going to retire on 31.07.2023. Petitioner
no. 15 was appointed as a Lecturer in the subject of Physics in Gatshila
College on 07.12.1981, promoted as Reader on 07.12.1991 and done
Ph.D in the year, 2002 and retired on 31.12.2019. Petitioner no. 16
was appointed as a Lecturer in Bokaro Steel City College, Bokaro on
23.11.1981, promoted as Reader on 23.11.1991 and done Ph.D in the
year, 1993 and retired on 31.07.2010. It is averred in the writ petition
that under the career advancement scheme of the UGC which shows
that minimum length of service for eligibility to move in the grade of
Lecturers, senior scale would be 4 years for those with Ph.D, 5 years
with those M.Phil and 6 years for those at the level of Lecturers and for
eligibility to move into the grade or Reader/Lecturers -Selection Grade,
the minimum length of service of Lecturer in senior selection grade
shall be uniformly 5 years. It is mentioned in the paragraph no.32 of
the writ petition that it will be evident from the order dated 06.09.2019
after the order passed in LPA No.22/2018, the State Government came
out with a notification directing all the Universities to state that total
number of Readers of the entire State in various Universities who were
granted promotion under 'Time bound promotion scheme/ Merit
promotion scheme', meaning thereby after the order passed by the
Division Bench, the respondent/State is taking stand for paying the
arrears to all the Readers in one pay scale i.e. Rs.12,000-420-18,300/-
in 5th, 6th and 7th pay revision committee. It is mentioned that the
petitioners were otherwise eligible for being placed at the Lecturer
Selection Grade in the scale of Rs.12,000-420-18,300/- at the time of
promotion to the post of Reader under the scheme, but they have
been placed in the Scale of Rs.10,000-15,200/-. He further submits
that the issue is no more res integra in view of the judgment rendered
by this Court in "Prashant Kumar Mishra and Others v. State of
Jharkhand and Others, in W.P.(S) No.4162 of 2013 and "Geeta
v. State of Jharkhand and Othrs" in W.P.(S) No.3690 of 2018.
He submits that the matter may kindly be disposed of with a direction
to the respondent State to consider the case of the petitioners in the
light of the judgment rendered by this Court in cases of "Prashant
Kumar Mishra & Others v. State of Jharkhand and Others" and
"Geeta v. State of Jharkhand and Others".
5. Learned counsel for the petitioners further submits that the
respondents are bound to act in terms of letter dated 11.09.2020 by
which the arrears of pay scales of Reader in 5th, 6th and 7th pay revision
has been given to the writ petitioners of W.P(S) No. 4162/2013, L.P.A.
No. 22/2018 and L.P.A. No. 661/2019 and cannot adopt discriminatory
attitude in respect of the present petitioners by way of pick and choose
method.
6. Mr. Amresh Kumar, the learned counsel for the Vinoba Bhave
University submits that it is in the domain of the State to consider the
case of the petitioners. He further submits that if any rectification will
be done by the State Government, the University shall comply the
same.
7. The learned counsel for the respondent State submits that the
identical matters in the case of "Prashant Kumar Mishra" and
"Geeta" (supra) the matter has been set at rest which was affirmed in
L.P.A. No.22 of 2018 and L.P.A. No. 661/2019. It is stated that on the
basis of the above mentioned judgments, the Court may dispose the
instant case accordingly.
8. In view of the above admitted position, the respondent
State is directed to consider the case of the petitioners in the light of
the judgment rendered by this Court in "Prashant Kumar Mishra"
and "Geeta" (supra) and also L.P.A. No.22 of 2018 and L.P.A. No.
661 of 2019 and pass appropriate reasoned order within a period of 8
weeks from the date of receipt /production of a copy of this order.
9. It goes without saying that if the decision is taken in favour
of the petitioners the same shall be communicated to the University
within a period of four weeks so that the benefit of the same may be
accrued to the petitioners at the earliest.
10. With the above observations and direction, the instant writ
petition stands disposed of. I.A., if any, also stands disposed of.
(Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, J.)
Satyarthi/-
