Uttarakhand High Court
Dinesh Singh & Others ... vs State Of Uttarakhand & Others on 13 December, 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
Writ Petition (S/S) No. 2602 of 2019
Dinesh Singh & others .......Petitioners
Vs.
State of Uttarakhand & others .....Respondents
With
Writ Petition (S/S) No. 2769 of 2019
Yashwant Shah & others .......Petitioners
Vs.
State of Uttarakhand & others .....Respondents
With
Writ Petition (S/S) No. 2787 of 2019
Gambheer Singh Aswal & others .......Petitioners
Vs.
State of Uttarakhand & others .....Respondents
With
Writ Petition (S/S) No. 2788 of 2019
Jagdish Singh & others .......Petitioners
Vs.
State of Uttarakhand & others .....Respondents
With
Writ Petition (S/S) No. 2829 of 2018
Mukesh Uniyal & others .......Petitioners
Vs.
State of Uttarakhand & others .....Respondents
With
Writ Petition (S/S) No. 2832 of 2019
Ramnath Singh Parmar & another .......Petitioners
Vs.
State of Uttarakhand & others .....Respondents
Mr. V.B.S. Negi, Senior Advocate, assisted by Mr. Ankush Negi, Advocate, for the
petitioners.
Mr. Niranjan Bhatt, Advocate, for the petitioners (In WPSS Nos.2829 of 2018 and 2832
of 2019).
Ms. Anjali Bhargava, Additional CSC, for the State of Uttarakhand.
Hon'ble Sharad Kumar Sharma, J (Oral)
These are the bunch of six writ petitions, in which
primarily the petitioners have put a challenge to the impugned orders
dated 08.12.2017 and 13.12.2017, whereby, the Principal Secretary,
and the Director of Education, had denied the grant of selection grade
to the petitioners on the ground that the determination of the
satisfactory period of services for the purposes of grant of selection
grade has been determined in the case of the petitioners from their
respective date of regularization.
2. It has been argued by the learned Senior Counsel for the
petitioners, that the petitioners, who were initially appointed as a
"Shiksha Bandhu", in the year 2001, in fact was considered and
granted an adhoc status by virtue of an order dated 31.01.2006, and as
a consequence thereto, they were placed in the Grade Pay of Rs.6500-
10500, as payable to the Lecturers English. This fact of grant of an
adhoc status and the Scale referred to in the order of adhoc
appointment of 31.01.2006, is a fact, which is not disputed, by the
counsel for the parties.
3. The contention of the petitioners counsel is that as a
consequence of the grant of adhoc status, if the selection grade, which
was supposed to be granted to the petitioners by putting them in a
scale of Rs.7500-12,000/- with the Grade Pay of Rs.5400/- is
concerned, the same ought to have been determined in the light of the
parameters which had been laid down by the Government Order
No.655/Madhyamik/2002, dated 12th July, 2002.
4. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners had
particularly referred to Clause (1) of the said Government Order dated
12th July, 2002, which is extracted hereunder:-
"1. Ekk/;fed f"k{k.k laLFkkvksa ds f"k{[email protected] dks "lk/kkj.k osrueku" esa
10 o'kZ dh "larks'ktud lsok" iw.kZ djus ij p;u Lohd`r fd;k tk;sxk rFkk
p;u osrudky esa 12 o'kZ dh larks'ktud lsok iw.kZ djus ij izksUufr osrueku
Lohd`r fd;k tk;sxkA"
5. The argument of the learned Senior Counsel for the
petitioners is that the parameters requiring for the grant of the
selection grade; as per the terms of the said Government Order dated
12th July, 2002, for the Lecturers working in the Secondary Education,
there are only two parameters, which were required to be satisfied (1)
that the employee must have worked on "Sadharan Vetanmaan" for
ten years of satisfactory service. What he wants to submit is that while
interpreting Clause (1) of the Government Order, that the grant of the
selection made, as provided in the Government Order of 12th July,
2002, it only provides, that the period of ten years has to be
determined from the date when a candidate completes his ten years of
"satisfactory service" after being placed in a "common grade
(Sadharan Vetanman)".
6. The petitioners submits that their placement in the
"Sadharan Vetanmaan", is quite apparent from their order of grant of
an adhoc status i.e. dated 31.01.2006, and the consequential grant of
selection grade by an order of 27.08.2016, and which has been
determined on the basis of the above two parameters, provided in the
Government Order of 12th July, 2002.
7. The petitioners submit, that after the grant of the
selection grade by the respondents based on the Government Order,
the same couldn't have been withdrawn, though the petitioners had
earlier approached the writ court, and the writ court had observed, that
the claim of the petitioners for the grant of the selection grade, would
be considered by the respondents while deciding the representation,
without being influenced by the embargos which had been created by
the Government Order dated 08.12.2017. This order passed by the
learned Single Judge on 28.05.2019, which has attained the finality, as
it has not been put to challenge by the respondents in a special appeal
before the Division Bench of this Court. However, qualifying the
stand taken by the petitioners in the writ petition while interpreting the
affect of the Government Order of 2002, for the grant of the selection
grade based on the parameters of the "satisfactory services" and the
placement in the "common grade", in fact, the period of ten years is
being sought to be determined by the respondents based on the fact
that since the petitioners' services after being placed as an adhoc
Lecturer on 31.01.2006, was regularized only on 28.12.2013, in that
eventuality, while applying the principles laid down by the
Government Order dated 08.12.2017, the respondents contend, that
the period of satisfactory services has to be reckoned from the date of
the regularization of the services dated 28.12.2013, and not with effect
from the date when the petitioners were granted adhoc status and were
also placed on a "Sadharan Vetanmaan".
8. The rejection order based on the Government Order
dated 18.02.2017, first of all will not create any impediment in the
grant of benefit of a selection grade for the reason being, that the
unchallenged judgment of the coordinate Bench of this Court dated
28.05.2019, directing the respondents to consider the claim of the
petitioners for the grant of the selection grade without being
influenced by the embargos created by the Government Order dated
08.12.2017, had attained finality.
9. Even otherwise also, logically if the basic foundation of
the grant of selection grade, which has been postulated in the
Government Order of 2002, I am of the view that once the petitioners
had been placed on a "Sadharan Vetanmaan", while they were
granted an adhoc status on 31.01.2006, its tenor of the services of 10
years required for the purposes of the grant of a selection grade as per
the Government Order of 2002, would be reckoned from 2006, and
not from the date of the grant of regularization i.e. dated 28.12.2013,
as it has been argued by the learned counsel for the respondents
because the reference of the date of the regularization, which was
qualified to be made applied by the Government Order dated
08.12.2017, would not apply in the instant case, particularly, when the
petitioners claim already stood matured by the Government Order of
2002.
10. In that eventuality, the impugned orders of denying the
selection grade to the petitioners' cannot be sustained. The orders are
hereby quashed. Since this Court is of the considered view that the
petitioners claim for the grant of the selection grade stood matured
w.e.f. 31.01.2006, in the light of the Government Order dated 12th
July, 2002, the period of 10 years for the purposes of grant of
selection grade on ten years of services as provided under Clause (1)
of the Government Order dated 12th July, 2002, has to be calculated in
relation to the petitioners w.e.f. 31.01.2006, and not w.e.f. 28.12.2013,
i.e. the date of the regularization of the petitioners as it has been
contended by the respondents.
11. For the aforesaid reasons, the writ petitions are allowed.
The impugned orders are quashed. A writ of mandamus is issued to
the respondents to consider and grant the selection grade to the
petitioners in the light of the Government Order dated 12th July, 2002,
after reckoning the period of satisfactory services rendered by them
from the date of the grant of adhoc appointment when the "Sadharan
Vetanmaan" was made payable, which will fall to be within the ambit
of the zone of consideration under Clause (1) of the Government
Order dated 12th July, 2002.
12. Accordingly, the writ petitions are allowed, subject to the
aforesaid observations.
(Sharad Kumar Sharma, J.)
13.12.2021
NR/
