Orissa High Court
Santosh Kumar Behera And Ors vs State Of Odisha And Ors on 12 October, 2022
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.P.(C) No.26255 of 2022
Santosh Kumar Behera and Ors. .... Petitioners
Ms. Sarita Panda, Adv.
-versus-
State of Odisha and Ors. .... Opposite Parties
Mr. Debasis Mohapatra, SC
(for S & ME Deptt.)
CORAM:
DR. JUSTICE S.K. PANIGRAHI
Order ORDER
No. 12.10.2022
01. 1. This matter is taken up through hybrid arrangement.
2. Heard learned counsel for the parties.
3. In this Writ Petition, the Petitioners seek a direction
from this Court to the Opposite Parties to extend the
Revised Assured Career Progression Scheme (RACPS)
benefit to them and allow them the grade pay of the
promotional post i.e. Rs.4,200/- as per the common
judgment dated 24.06.2022 passed by the Division Bench
of this Court in W.P.(C) Nos.7281 of 2018 (State of
Odisha and Ors. -vrs.- Saraswati Bhoi and Others) and
in W.P.(C)No.4848 of 2021 (State of Odisha and Others -
vrs.- Nilamani Behera and others).
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4. Learned counsel for the Petitioners submits that the
present case is covered by the aforesaid common
judgment dated 24.06.2022 passed in the cases of
Saraswati Bhoi and Nilamani Behera (supra). He further
submits that the present Petitioners and the Opposite
Parties therein the cases of Saraswati Bhoi and Nilamani
Behera (supra) and similarly placed other Assistant
Teachers, being aggrieved by the action of the present
Opposite Parties, had approached the Odisha
Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, Bhubaneswar
(hereinafter referred to as "the Tribunal" for brevity) in
batch of Original Applications. The Tribunal held that the
Petitioners are entitled to the grade pay of Rs.4,200/- after
completion of 20 years in a single cadre towards 2nd
RACPs and quashed the impugned orders therein the
Original Applications, by which the grade pay of the
Petitioners had been reduced to Rs.2,800/-. Thereafter,
W.P.(C) Nos.7281 of 2018 and W.P.(C)No.4848 of 2021
were filed before this Court at the instance of the State
with a prayer to quash the order dated 24.10.2017 passed
in O.A. No.2576 of 2016 and batch of cases and order
dated 09.11.2017 passed in O.A. No.2499 of 2016 and
batch of cases by the Tribunal. However, the Division
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Bench of this Court vide the aforesaid common judgment
did not find any error in the orders of the Tribunal
impugned therein and dismissed the Writ Petitions filed
by the State thereby confirming the orders of the
Tribunal. Hence, he submits that this Writ Petition may
be disposed of taking into account the common judgment
dated 24.06.2022 passed in the cases of Saraswati Bhoi
and Nilamani Behera (supra).
5. Learned Standing Counsel for the Department of
School and Mass Education submits that he has no
objection, if this matter is disposed of taking into account
the common judgment dated 24.06.2022 passed in the
cases of Saraswati Bhoi and Nilamani Behera (supra).
6. On perusal of the records and the common judgment
dated 24.06.2022 passed in the cases of Saraswati Bhoi
and Nilamani Behera (supra), it appears that the present
Petitioners are the similarly placed Assistant Teachers to
the Opposite Parties in the cases of Saraswati Bhoi and
Nilamani Behera (supra).
7. In such view of the matter, the Opposite Parties/
authorities shall examine the facts and circumstances of
the present Writ Petition in the light of the common
judgment dated 24.06.2022 passed in the cases of
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Saraswati Bhoi and Nilamani Behera (supra) and if the
issue involved therein is squarely covered in the present
case, the authorities shall consider the Petitioners' case as
expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of
three months from the date of production of a copy of
this order.
8. Accordingly, this Writ Petition is disposed of.
9. Urgent certified copy of this order be granted on
proper application.
(Dr. S.K. Panigrahi)
Judge
B.Jhankar
