Shri Rajendra Prasad Mathur vs State Of Rajasthan
2023 Latest Caselaw 2 Raj

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR D.B. Spl. Appl. Writ No. 1120/2022

Shri Rajendra Prasad Mathur S/o Shri Mangilal, Aged About 64 Years, Sec 5Fb, C.h.b., Jodhpur.

----Appellant Versus

1. State Of Rajasthan, Through Secretary To The Government, Public Health And Secretariat, Jaipur.

2. District Collector, Jodhpur.

3. Sub Divisional Officer, Osiya, District Jodhpur.

                                                                     ----Respondents


For Appellant(s)            :     Mr. Ronak Arora
                                  Mr. Rohit Mutha
For Respondent(s)           :     ---



             HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP MEHTA
             HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KULDEEP MATHUR

                                   Judgment

02/01/2023

The instant intra court appeal is preferred against order

dated 23.11.2022 passed by the learned Single Bench of this

Court in S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.17054/2022 whereby the writ

petition filed by the petitioner was rejected.

Briefly stated facts of the case are that the appellant-writ

petitioner entered into the services of the Public Health

Engineering Department of the State of Rajasthan as daily rated

Sub-Engineer w.e.f. 01.06.1984. Subsequently, the post of Sub-

Engineer was re-designated as Junior Engineer. The appellant in

the year 1992 by way of filing S.B. C.W.P. No.525/1992 sought a

direction upon respondent-department to pay him salary

applicable to the pay scale of Junior Engineer along with dearness

(2 of 5) [SAW-1120/2022]

allowance and other admissible allowances as was being paid to

the regularly appointed engineers. A direction for regularisation of

his services on the post of Junior Engineer with all consequential

benefits was also sought. It is apposite to note here that during

pendency of the writ petition, the services of the appellant were

regularised as Junior Engineer w.e.f. 02.07.2003. Learned Single

Bench by an order dated 04.10.2004 disposed of the aforesaid

writ petition with a direction upon the respondent-department to

fix the appellant at the minimum of pay scale, applicable to the

Junior Engineers working in the department from the date of filing

of writ petition i.e. 22.01.1992 with all consequential benefits. The

authorities of respondent-department did not comply with the

order dated 04.10.2004 passed by learned Single Bench,

whereupon a Contempt Petition No.292/2005 was filed by the

appellant. A compliance report was submitted by the respondents

apprising contempt court that pay fixation in compliance of the

order dated 04.10.2004 passed by learned Single Bench had been

made and payment of arrears to the tune of ₹2,69,026 was

prepared and after making statutory deductions, a sum of

₹1,70,689 had been paid to the appellant. In view of this

development, the contempt court vide order dated 02.08.2006

dismissed the Contempt Petition No.292/2005 preferred by the

appellant. However, owing to some dispute regarding calculation

of the arrears, liberty was granted to the appellant to file a

representation before the authorities of the respondent-

department. The record of the case shows that the

representations made by the appellant against correctness of the

calculation of the arrears remained unactioned.

                                        (3 of 5)                    [SAW-1120/2022]


     Aggrieved    and    dissatisfied        with      the      inaction   of   the

respondent-department, appellant filed S.B. C.W.P. No.615/2007

before learned Single Bench which came to be decided by an order

dated 07.02.2007 with a direction to the respondents to decide

the representation of the appellant which may be in the form of

notice for demand of justice through counsel dated 29.11.2006

within three months from the date of filing of certified copy of the

order. The respondent No.2 whereupon passed an order dated

07.08.2008 stating that relief as claimed by the appellant in S.B.

C.W.P. No.525/1992 had already been granted to him, thus

nothing remains to be complied at their end.

The appellant after almost 14 years of the passing of order

dated 07.08.2008 has again approached learned Single Bench

with the prayer that respondents may be directed to award him

increment from the date of regularisation with interest on the

ground that he has received an information under the RTI Act

through communication dated 17.08.2021 that the persons

similarly situated were given the first increment w.e.f. 01.03.1997

which has given him a fresh cause of action.

The learned Single Bench by the impugned order dated

23.11.2022 dismissed the writ petition on the ground that the

litigation initiated by the appellant in the year 1992 stood

concluded in the year 2008 therefore, after passage of 14 years

the same issue cannot be re-agitated all over again. The order

dated 23.11.2022 is assailed in the present special appeal.

Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the

principle of delay and laches is not applicable in the cases of

continuing wrong and till the time, it does not affect any third

(4 of 5) [SAW-1120/2022]

party rights. Learned counsel further submitted that the right to

claim proper increment subsists during the entire service tenure

and even after superannuation from services as it gives rise to a

fresh cause of action each time the salary or pension is incorrectly

computed and paid. Learned counsel urged that the appellant has

been making several representations which are pending till date

therefore, delay, if any in approaching the Hon'ble Court for

payment of correct salary ought to have been condoned by

learned Single Bench and the writ petition should have been heard

on merits. For strengthening the aforesaid contention, counsel

placed reliance on the judgment rendered by Hon'ble the Supreme

Court in the case of M.R. Gupta vs. Union of India reported in

1995 SCC (5) 628.

Heard learned counsel for the appellant and perused the

material available on record.

We find no infirmity in the observation of learned Single

Bench that the dispute raised by way of filing S.B. C.W.P.

No.525/1992 in the year 1992 had culminated into finality way

back in the year 2008. Further, the appellant was duly informed by

the respondent No.2 vide order dated 07.08.2008 that the relief

as claimed in S.B. C.W.P. No.525/1992 has already been granted

to him. The order dated 07.08.2008 was not challenged by the

appellant and the same has therefore attained finality.

Indubitably, cause of action, if any had arisen in favour of

the appellant in the year 2008. The appellant after lapse of almost

14 years cannot be permitted to reopen the issue with regard to

grant of salary and proper increments in the pay scale applicable

(5 of 5) [SAW-1120/2022]

for the post of Junior Engineer from the date of regularisation in

the respondent-department.

In our considered opinion, the decision rendered by Hon'ble

the Apex Court in the case of M.R. Gupta (supra) has no

application in the present case. That was a case of denial of

proper fixation from the date of initial appointment whereas the

claim of the appellant for grant of salary with admissible

increments for his working against the post of Junior Engineer has

already been adjudicated upon by learned Single Bench of this

Court in two rounds of litigation by deciding S.B. C.W.P.

No.525/1992 and S.B. C.W.P. No.615/2007.

The attempt on the part of the appellant to create a fresh

cause of action in the garb of a communication under the RTI Act

dated 17.08.2021 cannot be countenanced. It is settled law that

repeated representations do not extend limitation nor can a be

ground to plead a fresh cause of action so as to overcome delay

and laches which in this case is 14 years from the date of passing

of order dated 07.08.2008.

In view of above, we are of the view that no case for

interference is made out in the order passed by the learned Single

Bench.

The special appeal is therefore, dismissed.

No order as to costs.

                                   (KULDEEP MATHUR),J                                    (SANDEEP MEHTA),J
                                    57-KshamaD/-









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