Alok Ranjan vs The State Of Bihar
2021 Latest Caselaw 3208 Patna

      IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
            Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 188 of 2021
   ======================================================

1. Alok Ranjan, aged about 27 years, gender-Male,

son of Late Ram Lochan Jha, working as clerk in

D.E.O. Office, Darbhanga, District-Darbhanga

2. Pankaj Kumar Sah, aged about 27 years, gender-

Male, Son of Pawan Kumar Sahv, working as clerk

in D.E.O. Office, Darbhanga, District-Darbhanga

3. Amit Kumar, aged about 32 years, gender-Male,

son of Late Arvind Kumar Lala, working as clerk in

D.E.O. Office, Darbhanga, District-Darbhanga

... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

1. The State of Bihar through the Director (Secondary Education) Govt. of Bihar, Patna.

2. The Director, Secondary Education, Govt. of Bihar, Patna

3. The Regional Deputy Director of Education, Darbhanga Division, Darbhanga

4. The District Education Officer, Darbhanga ... ... Respondent/s ================================ Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :Mr. Amresh Kumar Singh. Adv. For the State :Mr. Jitendra Kumar Roy, SC-13 Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MOHIT KUMAR SHAH

ORAL JUDGMENT

Date : 09-07-2021

Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners,

Sri Amresh Kumar Singh, and the learned counsel

appearing for the State, Sri Jitendra Kumar Roy,

(SC-13).

2. The present writ petition has been filed by the

petitioners for directing the respondent authorities

to pay salary in the revised pay scale i.e. Rs. 4000-

6000/- in place of the basic pay scale of Rs. 3050-

4500/-.

3. The brief facts of the case are that the

petitioners were granted appointment on

compassionate ground on the post of Lower

Division Clerk, after recommendations were made

by the District Compassionate Committee vide

orders dated 02.12.2014, 04.09.2015 and

31.03.2017, respectively. The appointment orders

of the petitioners were then issued vide letters

dated 15.12.2014, 08.09.2015 and 24.04.2017, Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

respectively.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits

that the replacement scale of the pay band of Rs.

3050-4590 is Rs. 5200-20200 whereas the

replacement scale of pay band of Rs. 4000-6000,

though is also the same but the grade pay is

higher, hence the petitioners are suffering

continuing loss.

5. The learned counsel for the petitioners has

relied upon a dozen of judgments rendered by

coordinate Benches of this Court on the basis of

the judgment rendered by the learned Division

Bench of this Court in the case of Avinash Kumar

Chakerworty & Anr. Vs. The State of Bihar &

Ors. dated 23.06.2017 passed in L.P.A. No. 167 of

2016, which are being enumerated herein below:-

(i) Order dated 20.12.2019 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 25552 of 2019 (Munazir Alam & Anr. Vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(ii) Order dated 27.02.2020 passed by a Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 4105 of 2020 (Kundan Kishore & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(iii) Order dated 17.02.2020 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 25689 of 2019 (Vijay Krishna Vidyarthi & Anr. vs. The Stte of Bihar & Ors.)

(iv) Order dated 25.03.2021 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 396 of 2020 (Kr. Abhishek & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(v) Order dated 25.02.2021 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 4065 of 2020 (Radha Shyam & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(vi) Order dated 25.02.2020 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 2397 of 2020 (Mamta Kumari & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(vii) Order dated 03.10.2018 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 17151 of 2018 (Manoj Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

Kumar Chourasiya & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(viii) Order dated 03.10.2018 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 16761 of 2018 (Dhananjay Sharma & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(ix) Order dated 10.12.2019 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 23243 of 2019 (Sudhir Kumar & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(x) Order dated 16.10.2020 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 2587 of 2020 (Sanjeet Kumar Satyakam & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(xi) Order dated 27.02.2020 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 2829 of 2020 (Santosh Kumar Sinha & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.)

(xii) Order dated 27.02.2020 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 2822 of 2020 (Manish Kumar & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.) Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

6. Per contra, the learned counsel appearing for

the State, Sri Jitendra Kumar Roy (SC-13), has

submitted that the case of the petitioners are

distinguishable and in fact covered by another

Division Bench judgment of this Court dated

19.02.2014, rendered in the case of Smt.

Mosarrat Aara Khanam & Anr. vs. The State

of Bihar & Ors., passed in L.P.A. No. 100 of 2012

and one another analogous case, hence are not

entitled to the pay scale of Rs. 4000-6000.

7. The learned counsel for the State has further

submitted that the cut-off date for the purposes of

grant of pay scale of Rs. 4000-6000 was/is

20.12.2000, as is apparent from the Finance

Department, Government of Bihar letter No. 8825

dated 20.12.2000 and since the petitioners have

been appointed after the cut-off date, they are not

eligible for grant of the pay scale of Rs. 4000-6000

and in fact, they are entitled to the basic pay sale

of Rs. 3050-4590/-. It is thus submitted that the

present writ petition is fit to be dismissed. Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

8. At this juncture, the learned counsel for the

petitioner, Sri Amresh Kumar Singh, has referred to

a judgment passed by a coordinate Bench of this

Court dated 25.02.2021 in the case of Radha

Shyam & Ors. Vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.

(CWJC No. 4065 of 2020) wherein the aforesaid

judgment passed by the Division Bench of this

Court in the case of Smt. Mosarrat Aara

Khanam & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors.

has been considered, however, still the petitioners

of the said case, who had been appointed much

after the cut-off date of 30.12.2000, have been

granted relief by way of grant of the benefits of

higher pay scale in the scale of Rs. 4000-6000. It

would be relevant to reproduce the relevant

paragraphs of the said judgment rendered in the

case of Radha Shyam & Anr. (supra) herein

below:-

"A counter affidavit was filed on behalf of

the District Education Officer, Jehanabad. It is

submitted by learned counsel for the State

that so far as the petitioners herein are Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

concerned, they were appointed on the post

of clerk between 19.6.2003 and 1.10.2004 i.e.

much after 20.12.2000 when the cadre was

demerged, reviving two cadres of Lower

Division Clerk and Upper Division Clerk.

Learned counsel for the State further relying

on the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the

Director Secondary Education refers to order

dated 19.2.2014 passed in LPA no. 100 of

2012 (Smt. Mosarrat Arra Khanam and others

vs. State of Bihar and others) to submit that in

the said order it was held that the claim of

pay scale of Rs. 4000-6000 was accepted by

the Court as they were direct recruits, who

constituted one isolated group and the

appellants in the said case could not

legitimately claim parity of pay with the direct

recruits.

Having heard learned counsel for the

parties and on going through the judgment

dated 23.6.2017 passed in the case of

Avinash Kumar Chakerworty (Supra) it Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

transpires that this Court took note of the

facts of the case and opined that even if for

sake of argument it is assumed that the

petitioners and employees are from two

different categories, when more than 300

employees had been granted the benefit of

higher pay scale in the grade of Rs. 4000-

6000, there was no reason as to why similar

benefits be not granted to the petitioners.

Relevant portion of the order dated 23.6.2017

is quoted herein below for ready reference:-

"Even if for the sake of argument it may be assumed that the petitioners and the employees, who were petitioners in CWJC No. 13577 of 2006 form two different categories, there is no justification in the matter of discrimination between the present petitioners and the retrenched employees who were working in the non formal education scheme. It is clear that the non-formal education scheme came to an end and large number of Class-III and Class-IV employees was retrenched and thereafter in the year 2005 and Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

2006 as is evident from Annexures 4 and 5, they were re-appointed as a fresh appointee in the year 2005 and 2006, that is much after 20th December, 2000 and in their case, they have been granted the higher pay scale of Rs. 4000/- - Rs. 6000/-. If that be so, there is a discrimination in the matter of granting similar benefit to the petitioners when more than 300 employees have been granted such benefit of higher pay scale in the grade of Rs. 4000/- - Rs. 6000/- even after they were appointed in the year 2005 and 2006, there is no reason as to why similar benefits should be denied to the petitioners when the petitioners are also doing similar work and were appointed after 20th December, 2000. To that effect, there is discrimination in the matter and the petitioners are entitled to equal treatment."

Thus in view of the facts and

circumstances stated hereinabove as also in

view of the Division Bench judgment of this

Court dated 23.6.2017 (Annexure-2), this

Court is of the opinion that the case of the Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

petitioners also is covered by the said

judgment and thus, is allowed with a direction

to the respondents to grant benefit to the

petitioners in similar terms as the directions

contained in judgment dated 23.6.2017

passed in LPA no. 167 of 2016. The

consequential benefits shall be paid to the

petitioners within three months of filing of the

representation along with a copy of this

order."

9. This Court finds that various coordinate

Benches of this Court have granted relief to the

similarly situated employees, more particularly

considering the law laid down by the Ld. Division

Bench of this Court in the case of Avinash Kumar

Chakerworty & Anr. (Supra) as also with a view

to maintain judicial consistency since several

orders have been passed in the cases of similarly

situated employees, granting higher pay scale to

them and further to avoid discrimination amongst

the same set of employees. In such view of the

matter, this Court is also persuaded to take the Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

same view as has been taken in the aforesaid one

dozen cases by the coordinate Benches of this

Court as also by the learned Division Bench of this

Court in the case of Avinash Kumar

Chakerworty & Anr. (supra) and further by a

coordinate Bench of this Court in the case of

Radha Shyam & Ors. (supra).

10. Having regard to the facts and circumstances

of the case, the writ petition stands disposed of in

light of the order dated 10.12.2019 passed by a

coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 23243

of 2019 (Sudhir Kumar & Anr. Vs. The State of

Bihar & Ors.), order dated 25.02.2021 passed by

a coordinate Bench of this Court in CWJC No. 4065

of 2020 ( Radha Shyam & Anr. Vs. The State of

Bihar & Ors.) and the one rendered by the

learned Division Bench of this Court dated

23.06.2027, in LPA No. 167 of 2016 (Avinash

Kumar Chakerworty & Anr. Vs. The State of

Bihar & Ors.). Consequently, it is directed that the

petitioners shall be paid the benefits in the pay Patna High Court CWJC No.188 of 2021 dt.09-07-2021

scale of Rs. 4000-6000.

11. It is needless to stated that the arrears of

salary shall be granted to the petitioners from the

date the petitioners have filed the present writ

petition i.e. the date of registration of the present

writ petition, which is 21.01.2021, as has been

observed in the judgment of the learned Division

Bench of this Court, rendered in the case of

Avinash Kumar Chakerworty & Anr. (supra).

12. The writ petition stands disposed of on the

aforesaid terms.

(Mohit Kumar Shah, J)

Ajay/-

AFR/NAFR                AFR
CAV DATE                NA
Uploading Date          12.07.2021
Transmission Date       NA