Vinod Kumar Sharma vs State Of Himachal Pradesh And Others

Sandeep Sharma, J

By way of instant execution petition, prayer has been made on behalf of the petitioner for execution of order passed by erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal in TA No. 4859 of 2015, titled Vinod Kumar Sharma vs. State of Himachal Pradesh and others, decided on 28.6.2017, whereby Original Application having been filed by the petitioner came to be disposed of with a direction to the respondents to regularize the services of the petitioner as a Junior Draughtsman on completion of requisite number of years of service to be counted with effect from 8.7.1987 with further direction to create post of Junior Draughtsman by upgrading the post against which petitioner was working, post being personal to him. While passing aforesaid order, learned Tribunal below ordered that the actual benefits would be restricted to three years prior to filing of the transferred application. Aforesaid order passed by erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal was further upheld by Division Bench of this Court vide judgment dated 3.1.2019 in CWP No. 1958 of 2017.

Having heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record, this Court finds that though prior to filing of the petition at hand, respondents/competent Authority vide order dated 19.7.2019 (Annexure P-3 had ordered for implementation of order, sought to be executed but since arrears of salary on account of refixation of pay were restricted to three years prior to filing of transferred application i.e. 2.5.2015, petitioner approached this Court in the instant proceedings, seeking therein direction to the respondents/competent Authority to grant aforesaid benefit to them from the date of filing of the writ petition, which was subsequently transferred to erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, after its creation in the year 2015.

Precisely, the claim of the petitioner as emerges from the record is that in terms of order, sought to be executed, restriction of three years period as has been defined in the order, would relate back to the year 2010, when writ petition was filed by the petitioner, which subsequently came to be transferred to erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal and re-registered as TA No. 4859 of 2015.

Aforesaid stand put up by the petitioner has been refuted by respondents, who in their reply have stated that since entire arrears of salary on account of refixation of pay stand disabused/paid to the petitioner, in terms of order sought to be executed, present petition deserves dismissal having been rendered infructuous .

No doubt, perusal of order dated 19.7.2019, Annexure P-3, reveals that pursuant to order sought to be executed, respondents/competent Authority have decided to fix pay of the petitioner notionally from the retrospective date i.e. 28.1.1998 and arrears of salary on account of refixation have been restricted to three years prior to filing of transferred application i.e. 2.5.2015, but there appears to be considerable force in the submission made by Mr. Sunil Mohan Goel, learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner that the words, 'transferred application' referred to in the order sought to be executed, would relate back to filing of writ petition, which ultimately was transferred to erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, on its creation in the year 2015.

In the case at hand, it is not in dispute that originally writ petition was filed by the petitioner in this Court in September, 2010 but before same could be decided, Government of Himachal Pradesh decided to create Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, as such, case of the petitioner being a service matter, came to be transferred to erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal and re-registered as transferred application (TA). However, the fact remains that originally the claim which was subsequently decided vide order dated 28.6.2017, was actually filed in September, 2010, as such, period of three years prior to filing of TA, as defined in order dated 28.6.2017, would relate back to the year 2010, meaning thereby arrears, on account of refixation of pay, would be restricted for a period of three years prior to filing of the writ petition i.e. September, 2010.

Consequently, in view of above, present petition is disposed of, with a direction to the respondents/competent Authority to pay arrears on account of refixation of pay considering date of filing of transferred application as September, 2010 i.e. the date of filing of CWP No.6051 of 2010. Needful in terms of instant judgment shall be done within a period of six weeks from today, failing which petitioner would be at liberty to get the present petition revived so that appropriate action in accordance with law is taken towards implementation of order in question. However, it is clarified that other claims set out in the present petition shall be claimed by filing independent petition, if so required and desired by the petitioner, by way of filing appropriate proceedings in appropriate court of law.

The petition stands accordingly disposed of.