Guruvayur Kshetra Karmic ... vs State Of Kerala
2021 Latest Caselaw 2735 Ker

               IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM

                               PRESENT

          THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN

      MONDAY, THE 25TH DAY OF JANUARY 2021 / 5TH MAGHA, 1942

                       WP(C).No.9913 OF 2020(L)


PETITIONERS:

      1        GURUVAYUR KSHETRA KARMIC SANGHAM(BMS),
               REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY V.C.SUNILKUMAR,
               REG.NO.8-26/90, SATHRAM NO.2, THEKKENADA, GURUVAYUR,
               THRISSUR DISTRICT, PIN - 680 101.

      2        K.BINU,
               ASSISTANT MANAGER, GURUVAYUR DEVASWOM, GURUVAYUR,
               THRISSUR DISTRICT, PIN - 680 101.

               BY ADVS.
               DR.K.P.SATHEESAN (SR.)
               SRI.P.MOHANDAS (ERNAKULAM)
               SRI.K.SUDHINKUMAR
               SRI.S.K.ADHITHYAN
               SRI.SABU PULLAN

RESPONDENTS:

      1        STATE OF KERALA,
               REPRESENTED BY THE ADDITIONAL CHIEF SECRETARY,
               DEVASWOM DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT,
               THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - 695 001.

      2        THE GURUVAYUR DEVASWOM MANAGING COMMITTEE,
               REPRESENTED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR, SREE PADMAM
               BUILDING, GURUVAYUR, THRISSUR DISTRICT, PIN - 680
               101.

      3        THE ADMINISTRATOR, GURUVAYUR DEVASWOM,
               SREE PADMAM BUILDING, GURUVAYUR, THRISSUR DISTRICT,
               PIN - 680 101.

               R1 BY GOVERNMENT PLEADER
               R2-3 BY ADV. SRI.T.K.VIPINDAS



               SRI. SUNIL KUMAR KURIAKOSE (GP), SRI. VIPIN DAS (SC)

     THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD            ON
25.01.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
 WP(C).No.9913 OF 2020                2

                              JUDGMENT

The 1st petitioner - which is stated to be

a registered Association, representing the

employees of the Guruvayur Devaswom and an

Assistant Manager of Guruvayur Devaswom as

the 2nd petitioner, has approached this Court

impugning Ext.P4 proceedings, dated

27/04/2020, issued by the Administrator of

the said Devaswom, as per which, certain

portion of salary payable to the employees

have been ordered to be retained, to be

repaid later, on account of COVID-19 pandemic

disruption.

2. The petitioners say that Ext.P4

proceedings have been issued by the

Administrator of Guruvayur Devaswom based on

certain Government Orders and they assert

that Government has no power to have

instructed the Devaswom to do so, since they

have no direct or even supervisory control in

such matters.

3. The petitioners, therefore, pray that

Ext.P4 be set aside and the Administrator of

Guruvayur Devaswom be directed to refund the

amounts retained from the employees

forthwith.

4. Even though there are various

assertions, allegations and averments in this

writ petition, I do not deem it necessary to

enter into it in detail, since forensic

propriety of the Government Order with

respect to Government servants have already

been considered by this Court in certain

other writ petitions.

5. The fact that the concept of "deferment

of salary" had been thought of and

implemented by the Government on account of

COVID-19 pandemic restrictions alone is

virtually uncontested. Of course, the

adscititious issue in this case is whether

Government could have issued any order

directing such deferment of salary as far as

the employees of Guruvayur Devaswom Board is

concerned; but as I have said above, these

issues have now become rather less relevant

because Government has now issued a further

order dated 25/10/2020, whereby, repayment of

the retained amounts to various employees has

been ordered in the following manner:

"Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 7 of the Kerala Disaster and Public Health Emergency (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (47 of 2020), the Government of Kerala hereby specify the manner in which the pay and allowances deferred as per notification issued under G.O(P)No.53/2020/Fin. Dated 30th April, 2020 and published as S.R.O.No.296/2020 in the Kerala Gazette Extraordinary No.1115 dated 30th April, 2020 will be given back to such employees and teachers specified therein:

(1) Pay and allowances deferred from the salary of April 2020 to August 2020 would be merged in the Provident Fund on 1 st April, 2021. Amount thus merged will only be permitted to withdraw after 1st June, 2021. Interest applicable to Provident Fund would also be applicable to such amount so remitted from the date of remittance.

(2) In the case of employees and teachers who do not have Provident Fund (including pensioners), deferred portion of pay and allowances would be repaid in monthly instalments in cash from 1st June, 2021. Each monthly instalment would be equivalent to the pay and allowances deferred during each month from April 2020 to August 2020."

6. The learned counsel for the

petitioners, Shri.P.Mohandas, submitted that

his clients will be satisfied if this Court

ensures that the deferred portion of pay and

allowances to his clients are at least paid

in cash from 1st of June, 2021, since none of

them have Provident Fund; and therefore, that

if Guruvayur Devaswom and Government agree

that this will be done, they do not require

any further directions other than that.

7. I, therefore, asked Shri.Sunil Kumar

Kuriakose - learned Government Pleader, as to

how the deferred portion of pay and

allowances, as far as the employees of

Guruvayur Devaswom Board, will be repaid, he

submitted that if the amounts retained from

the employees have already been deposited by

the Devaswom to Government Treasury Account,

then same will be repaid to the Devaswom, so

as to be, in turn, paid in cash to the

employees starting from 1st of June, 2021. He

prayed that, therefore, this writ petition be

ordered on such terms.

8. Shri.Vipin Das, learned Standing

Counsel for Guruvayur Devaswom, submitted

that the amounts retained from the employees

under the Government Order have been remitted

to the Special Treasury Savings Bank Account,

as is evident from Ext.P7 and therefore, that

his client understands that Government will

pay back this money to them, which can then

be disbursed to individual employees in cash

from 1st of June, 2021. He also, therefore,

prayed that no further orders be issued in

this writ petition, other than to the afore

effect.

9. As I have said above, this writ

petition was filed on 12/05/2020, when the

concept of deferment of salary had been just

introduced. There was a lot of issues with

respect to this policy, leading to various

writ petitions; but, as matters now stand,

the period of deferment is coming to a close

and the Government has, through their order

dated 25/10/2020, agreed to repay these

amounts in cash from 1st of June, 2021.

             10. Thus,       sole       issue        that     is    now

       relevant    is    whether        the    latest       Government

       Order   dated    25/10/2020        would       apply    in    the

case of employees of Guruvaur Devaswom Board

also. However, since Shri.Sunil Kumar

Kuriakose - learned Government Pleader and

Sri.Vipin Das - learned Standing Counsel for

Guruvayur Devaswom Board say that this Order

will apply in its full force to the employees

of the Devaswom Board also, I do not think

that any further directions are required in

this case other than making sure that the

petitioners get their deferred portion of pay

and allowances in monthly instalments, as

ordered in it from 1st of June, 2021.

Resultantly, this writ petition is

ordered:

(a) With a direction to the Government

to ensure that sufficient amounts, which are

necessary to pay the deferred portion of pay

and allowances to the employees of

Guruvayoor Devaswom Board in monthly

instalments - as ordered in the Government

Order dated 25/10/2020 are remitted to the

concerned Authority of the Devaswom within

time each month, so as to ensure that it can

be disbursed to the employees in cash from

1st of June, 2021 onwards.

(b) On the amounts as afore directed

being remitted to the account of the Devaswom

Board, the 3rd respondent - Administrator

will ensure that each of the employees, from

whom amounts had been retained as per the

earlier Government Order, is paid in cash in

monthly instalments, as ordered in the

Government Order dated 25/10/2020, without

fail from 1st of June, 2021, until it is

fully disbursed.

Sd/-

DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN JUDGE MC/28.1.2021

APPENDIX PETITIONER'S/S EXHIBITS:

EXHIBIT P1 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 17/09/2018 IN W.P.(C) N0.30154/2018.

EXHIBIT P2 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 19/09/2018 IN W.P.(C) NO.30154/2018.

EXHIBIT P3 TRUE COPY OF THE NOTIFICATION ISSUED BY THE GOVERNMENT AS G.O.(P) NO.46/2020/FIN. DATED 23/04/2020.

EXHIBIT P4 TRUE COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS ISSUED BY THE 3RD RESPONDENT AS NOTIFICATION NO.A1- 2908/2020 DATED 27/04/2020.

EXHIBIT P5 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 5/5/2020 IN W.P.(C) TMP NO.279/2020.

EXHIBIT P6 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDINANCE NO.30 OF 2020 PUBLISHED AS PER NOTIFICATION NO.6936/LEG.A1/20202/LAW DATED 30/04/2020.

EXHIBIT P7 TRUE COPY OF THE NOTIFICATION ISSUED BY THE GOVERNMENT AS G.O.(P) NO.53/2020/FIN. DATED 30/04/2020.