K.R. Shanmuganathan vs The Chairman, Common Cadre Authority/Joint Registrar of Coop Societies, The Special Officer, Kattu Brammanavayal Primary Agricultural Coop Bank and The Special Officer, Kadampatti Primary Agricultural Co-op. Bank

K. Suguna, J.—This writ petition is filed challenging the order dated 19.11.2007 passed by the first respondent, insofar as it relates to denial

of salary for the period from 26.11.2002 to 16.04.2007.

It is the case of the petitioner that he was originally appointed as Secretary in the Athani Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank in the year

1982; however, the said bank was dissolved in November 2002; consequently, along with other employees, he was also discharged from service;

however, the Government has passed an order in G.O.Ms. No. 55, Co-operative, Food and Civil Supplies Department dated 24.03.2000

constituting a Common Cadre Service for Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank in the post of Secretary; as per the said order, the post of

Secretary comes under the Common Cadre Service; as far as the employees of these Common Cadre Service are concerned, the scale of pay,

allowances and other service benefits of this Cadre shall be decided by the Government from time to time; as per Clause 12 of the said

Government Order, the date of entry into the post of Secretary will be the criterion for fixing inter-se seniority; apart from this, as per Clauses 17

and 18 of the said Government Order, they are also liable for transfer; as per Clause 21 of the said Government Order, the Cadre Authority may

retrench any Cadre employee from the service of the Common Cadre in order to effect economy and while doing so, the juniormost member in the

Cadre Service shall be retrenched and such surplus employee in the Common Cadre shall be absorbed in the parent bank; as far as the case of the

petitioner is concerned, on the dissolution of the Athani Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank wherein the petitioner was working, he was

discharged from the Bank with effect from 26.11.2002; in spite of his repeated requests, he was not absorbed in any bank; consequently, he had

filed W.P. No. 709 of 2004, wherein directions were given to consider his case with regard to his absorption in any suitable post and in the Writ

Appeal, the Common Cadre Authority was directed to examine the case of the petitioner and to pass orders. Consequence of this, the order dated

19.11.2007 was passed by the Common Cadre Authority by which the petitioner was absorbed in T.58 Kattu Brammanavayal Primary

Agricultural Co-operative Bank; however, as per this order, the interregnum period from 26.11.2002 to 16.04.2007 was treated as non-

employment period and no pay was paid on the ground of ""No Work-No Pay"". Challenging that portion of the order, this Writ Petition is filed.

As far as this order is concerned, since the petitioner was not given any posting during the above said interregnum period, he was not paid the

pay. But, as far as the petitioner is concerned, he was working as Secretary and he comes under the Common Cadre. As far as the Common

Cadre employees are concerned, the Government has issued specific service regulations under the nomenclature ""Tamil Nadu Primary Agricultural

Co-operative Bank Common Cadre Service Rules of 2000"". Clause 12 of the said Rules deals with the seniority as per which inter-se seniority is

to be maintained. As far as the retrenchment is concerned, it is dealt with in Clause 21 of G.O. Ms. No. 55 as per which, if any Common Cadre

employee is surplus, he can be ousted from service on the ground that he is a surplus employee. However, only the juniormost member in the

Cadre service has to be ousted. Clauses 17 and 18 of the said Government Order deal with the transfer and posting of these Common Cadre

employees.

Now, as far as the petitioner is concerned, only on the dissolution of the Athani Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank wherein the petitioner

was working, he was retrenched. But, when there is a provision for transfer and posting, as far as the Common Cadre Employees are concerned,

on the dissolution of the said Co-operative Bank, as an employee of the Common Cadre, the petitioner should have been absorbed in any one of

the vacancies available.

It is not the case of the respondents that no vacancy was available so as to absorb the petitioner in any other bank. However, only after the

steps taken by the petitioner, by the impugned order dated 19.11.2007, the posting order was given to the petitioner. During the pendency of the

writ appeal, according to the learned Counsel for the respondents also, the petitioner was permitted to work in the same bank wherein, he has

been posted by the impugned order in April 2007. Having framed the rule and having given a nomenclature to the said post that they belong to the

Common Cadre and when there is a provision for transfer and posting and also maintaining inter-se seniority, certainly, on the dissolution of the

bank, the petitioner should have been posted in any one of the vacancies.

In view of the above, the stand of the petitioner that for no fault on him, he was out of service from 26.11.2002 to 16.04.2007, has to be

accepted. In spite of the enabling provision to absorb the petitioner in any one of the vacancies available, because of the inaction on the part of the

respondents, the petitioner was out of service with effect from 26.11.2002 to 16.04.2007. Consequently, this interregnum period has to be treated

as a compulsory wait and the petitioner is entitled for all the monetary benefits.

In fine, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned order dated 19.11.2007 passed by the first respondent is set aside, insofar as it relates to the

interregnum period from 26.11.2002 to 16.04.2007 as non-employment period denying the monetary benefit to the petitioner. Consequently, the

respondents are directed to treat the above said period as compulsory wait and to award the consequential monetary benefits within a period of

two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No costs. Consequently, connected Miscellaneous Petitions are closed.