Abhijit Ray vs State Of Tripura And Ors

[1] Petitioner is an employee of the Tripura Rehabilitation Plantation Corporation Limited (hereinafter to be referred to as TRPCL). The petitioner has made following prayers.

"In the premises whereof, it is most humbly submitted that Your Lordships would be graciously pleased to:

(i) Issue Rule, calling upon the respondents and each one of them, to show cause as to why a Writ of Certiorari and/or in the nature thereof, shall not be issued, for transmitting the records, lying with the respondents, and for quashing/setting aside the impugned Offer of Appointment dated 10.06.2012 (Annexure-P4 supra), whereby the petitioner has been granted the lesser pay scale of Rs.9570-30,500/- with Grade pay of Rs.3500/- (corresponding to the pre-revised pay scale of Rs.7450-225-11,500-250-13,000/-), instead of the pre-revised pay scale of Rs.7,800-275-10,000-300-15,100/,. corresponding to the revised pay scale of Rs.13,575-37,000/- with Grade Pay of Rs.3700/-;

I) Issue Rule, calling upon the respondents and each one of them, to show cause as to why a Writ of Mandamous and /or in the nature thereof, shall not be issued, for mandating/directing he respondents, to fix the pay of the petitioner, in the pre-revised pay scale of Rs.7800-275-10,000-300-15,100/-, corresponding to the revised pay scale of Rs.13,575-37,000/- with Grade Pay of Rs.3700/-, instead of the pay scale of Rs.9570-30,500/- with Grade pay of Rs.3500/-(corresponding to the pre-revised pay scale of Rs.7450-225-11500-250-1300/-), grant him the arrears thereof, and further grant the benefit of Leave, as admissible to him, with effect from the date of his joining (14.11.1990) to the post of Company Secretary as a fixed pay employee;

II) Call for the records appertaining to this petition;

III) After hearing the parties, be pleased to make the Rule Absolute in terms of i, ii, above;

IV) Costs of an incidental to this proceeding;

V) Any other relief(s) as to this Hon'ble High Court may deem fit and proper;"

[2] These prayers arise in following background. The petitioner was initially engaged as a Company Secretary by the respondent No.2, TRPCL w.e.f 14.11.1990 on a fixed monthly salary of Rs.1,000/-. Such engagement was continued from time to time till 12.06.2001. By an order dated 13.06.2001 the petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Company Secretary on adhoc basis in the scale of pay of Rs.7,800 - 15,100/- by adjusting against the post Company Secretary which carried the scale of pay of Rs.12,000 - 18,400/-. This adhoc appointment also continued for sometime till TRPCL initiated a selection process for appointment of Assistant Company Secretary on regular basis. For such purpose, an advertisement was issued inviting eligible candidates to apply. The petitioner applied in response to the said advertisement. He was selected and appointed on the post of Assistant Company Secretary on regular basis in the pay scale of Rs.9,570 - 30,000/- with a grade pay of Rs.3,500/- under an office memorandum dated 10.01.2012. The petitioner made a representation to the department on 13.10.2014 requesting that for the period during which he had discharged his duties on fixed salary and on adhoc basis, he may be given the benefit of leave.

[3] The case of the petitioner is that the post of Assistant Company Secretary on which he was appointed on regular basis, carried a higher pay scale. According to the petitioner, TRPCL had decided to fill up the vacancy in terms of the prevalent recruitment rules under which scale of pay prescribed for the post in question was Rs.7,800 - 15,100/- which was subsequently revised. Instead of granting the corresponding revised pay scale to the petitioner at the time of his appointment, he was placed in the lower scale of pay of Rs.9,500 - 13,500/- with a grade pay of Rs.3,500/- which corresponded to the pre revised scale of Rs.7,450 - 13,000/- . In the petition, the petitioner has also fleetingly referred to his past service on fixed salary and adhoc basis to be counted towards pensionable service as it was a regular service, however, no such prayer is made in the prayer clause.

[4] The respondents have filed reply and opposed the petition to the petitioner's claim for higher pay scale. It is stated that the Board of Directors of TRPCL had approved the draft recruitment rules for the post of Assistant Company Secretary carrying the pay scale of Rs.7,800 - 15,100/- in its meeting dated 28th May, 2009. However, the Government did not approve the said pay scale and the post was approved only in scale of pay of Rs.7,450 - 13,000/- (pre-revised). The petitioner was, therefore, appointed on the said post in the scale corresponding to the pre-revised pay of Rs.7,450 - 13,000/-.

[5] With respect to the petitioner's reference to his past service counting towards pensionary benefits, it is stated that the Government's circular dated 22nd December, 2010 would not apply since previously, the petitioner was not appointed after following selection process by observing necessary formalities for such purpose.

[6] Having heard learned counsel for the parties and having perused documents on record, it clearly emerges that the Board of Directors of TRPCL in its meeting dated 28th May, 2009 approved the draft recruitment rules for the post of Assistant Company Secretary which provided the mode of selection and essential qualifications has also prescribed the scale of pay of Rs.7,800 - 15,100/-. However, this resolution itself provided that the draft rules are approved and may be sent to the Government for its decision. The agenda Item No.3 which pertained to the approval of the draft recruitment rules considered by the Board of Directors in the said meeting, itself suggested that the draft rules for the post in question may be approved by the Board, subject to the decision of the Government. The approval of the draft rules by the Board of Directors was thus not to be given effect to unless and until the same was approved by the Government. As pointed by the respondents in the affidavit in reply, the Government though approved the rules for recruitment for the post of Assistant Company Secretary, permitted the scale of pay of Rs.7,450 - 13,000 for such post. There is no rejoinder to the said affidavit filed by the respondents. In any case, I have no reason to doubt the averments made by a responsible officer of TRPCL on oath. It thus emerges from the record that the creation of post of Assistant Company Secretary which was approved by the Government was in the scale of pay of Rs.7,450 - 13,000/-(pre-revised) that the pay of the petitioner on his appointment was correctly fixed in the revised scale corresponding to the said pre-revised scale.

[7] In absence of any prayer for counting past service for any purpose, such as leave, pension or other post retiral benefits, I refrain from commenting on this aspect.

[8] In the result, the petition failed and is dismissed.