State Of Haryana And Another vs S.D. Anand
2023 Latest Caselaw 21017 P&H

Citation : 2023 Latest Caselaw 21017 P&H
Judgement Date : 4 December, 2023

Punjab-Haryana High Court

State Of Haryana And Another vs S.D. Anand on 4 December, 2023

Author: Ritu Bahri

Bench: Ritu Bahri

                                                   Neutral Citation No:=2023:PHHC:154773-DB




LPA-481-2022 (O&M)                   2023:PHHC:154773-DB                 -1-

      IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
                     CHANDIGARH


                                          LPA-481-2022 (O&M)
                                          Date of decision: 04.12.2023


State of Haryana and another
                                                               ...Appellants
                           Vs.

S.D. Anand
                                                               ...Respondent



CORAM:       HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RITU BAHRI, ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE
             HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMAN CHAUDHARY

Present:     Mr. Deepak Balyan, Addl. A.G., Haryana,
             for the appellants.

                    ***

Ritu Bahri, Acting Chief Justice

1. The instant appeal, under Clause X of the Letters Patent

Appeal, is against the judgment dated 03.02.2022 passed by the learned

Single Judge of this Court, whereby petition (CWP-2388-2019) filed by

petitioner-respondent has been partly allowed and the respondent-State

(appellant herein) has been directed that the petitioner be treated at part with

and paid his dues in terms of appointment letters issued to the Chairman of

the Haryana Tax Tribunal and Chairman of Haryana Backward Classes

Commission.

2. Prayer of the petitioner-respondent, in the writ petition, was

qua non-fixation of the terms and conditions of his appointment as President

of Appellate Authority, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (for short

'HSPCB') despite lapse of 22 months after his appointment and his having

served as such during the said period.

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3. The aforesaid petition has been allowed keeping in view the

fact that a serving Judge of the High Court or a former Judge is allowed to

be appointed on the post of President of the Appellate Authority of HSPCB.

4. In the written statement, the respondent-State had admitted that

with respect fo the appointment of Justice L.N. Mittal (Retd.) as Chairman

of the Haryana Tax Tribunal and Mr. S.N. Aggarwal (Retd.), Chairman of

Haryana Backward Classes Commission, facilities have been provided to

them at par with the sitting High Court Judges.

5. In the affidavit dated 09.08.2019 filed by the Under Secretary,

Government of Haryana, it is stated that staff car along with free petrol and

staff has been provided to the petitioner as per Annexure R2/6 (Colly.).

However, with regard to demand of other Perks and facilities i.e.

accommodation/HRA, LTC, Library, Free Electricity, Free Water, 12

Officers/Officials, Telephone, I-Pad, Cordless Phone, Mobile set, has been

denied on the ground that there is a huge difference of work

load/dispensation between the sitting High Court Judge and that of a

President of a Tribunal.

6. Similar issue had come up for consideration before this Court

in CWP-8362-2017, titled as Justice Iqbal Singh (Retd.) vs. State of

Haryana and another. In this case, the petitioner was a retired Judge of the

High Court and was appointed as Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections,

Haryana by the Government. However, respondent-State did not give perks

like payment of water charges, electricity charges, fuel charges, telephone

charges, furnishing charges and salary of peons etc. during the relevant

period he worked as a Commissioner. On the intervention of the Court, the

department gave an undertaking to make the payment of all the dues, including payment of salary, perks and salary as per revised pay scales.

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The said petition was disposed of vide order dated 27.07.2018 on an affidavit dated 26.07.2018 filed by the Special Secretary to Government of Haryana.

7. In the facts of the present case, while allowing the petition,

learned Single Judge has observed that only a serving Judge of the High

Court or a former Judge is eligible to be appointed on the post of President

of the Appellate Authority of HSPCB. Moreover, it was not the case of the

State Government that the post of President of Appellate Authority of

HSPCB is not a statutory post. When a retired Judge of the High Court is

appointed as President of the Tribunal, he has to be given the same salary

and other perks as are given to the sitting Judge.

8. After going through the contents of appeal as well as the

impugned judgment, this Court is of the view that the appellant-State has

been rightly directed to pay all the dues to the petitioner-respondent in terms

of appointment letters issued to the Chairman of the Haryana Tax Tribunal