CENTRAL
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
BANGALORE
BENCH : BANGALORE
ORIGINAL
APPLICATION No. 36/2008
TODAY,
THIS THE ......... DAY OF .................., 2011
HON'BLE
SMT. LEENA MEHENDALE ... MEMBER (A)
HON'BLE
SHRI V. AJAY KUMAR ... MEMBER (J)
D. Sampath Kumar,
S/o J.B. Dominic,
Aged about 46 years,
Working as Lab. Attendant,
O/o the Director,
Central Frozen Semen Production & Training
Institute,
Hessarghatta, Bangalore – 560 088.
R/o Type-I,
Quarters,
CFSP &TI, Hessarghatta,
Bangalore – 560 088. ... Applicants
(By
Advocate Shri B. Veerabhadra)
Vs.
1. The Director,
Central
Frozen Semen Production & Training Institute,
Hessarghatta, Bangalore – 560 088.
2. The Director (AH),
Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries,
Krishi
Bhavan, New Delhi – 110 001.
3. The Union of India,
Rep. by
its Secretary,
Ministry
of Agriculture,
Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries,
Krishi
Bhavan, New Delhi – 110 001. ... Respondents
(By
Advocate Shri V.N. Holla, ACGSC)
O R D E R
Hon'ble Smt. Leena Mehendale, Member (A) :
This OA filed on 23.01.2008, under
Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, is to contest a short
point as reflected in prayer at para 8 (ii) of the OA, namely:-
"to
direct the respondents to consider the case of the applicant to count the
entire service rendered on casual basis, prior to grant of temporary status for
the purpose of ACP and for the grant of the pay scale of
Rs.3050-75-3950-80-4590/- on 1st ACP."
2.
Though the purpose of the application seems to be
to claim and get the benefit of 1st ACP from an earlier date by
claiming the counting of his service rendered as a casual labour, he has gone
in a round about way with his first prayer to get this service declared as a
qualifying service for pensionary benefits that are not due as yet. In any case, the prayer at para 8 (ii)
cannot be consequential to the prayer at para 8 (i). Hence, at the time of argument, the learned
counsel for the applicant prayed for concentrating on the relief claimed at
para 8 (ii).
3.
At Annexure-A/1, he has submitted a chart of his
work as casual Clerk (Group 'C') on daily wage basis in broken spells starting
from 9.12.1980 upto 31.8.1993 at various branches in the office of Central
Frozen Semen Production and Training Institute, Hessarghatta, Bangalore. He has been given temporary status as a Group
'D' employee with effect from 1.9.1993.
It is pertinent to note that this temporary status is in Group 'D' in
the pay scale of Rs.750-940/-, which, in no way reflects the scale of
Rs.950-1500/- that was given to him while
he was employed as Casual Clerk on daily wage basis in Group 'C'. After working as temporary Group 'D' employee
from 1.9.1993 to 31.3.1994, he has been made Lab. Attendant in Group 'D' in the
same pay scale of Rs.750-940/- with effect from 1.4.1994.
4.
On 29.9.1995 (Annexure-A/6), his services as Lab.
Attendant was regularised in the pay scale of Rs.750-940/-. In 1998, he was given a pay revision of
Rs.2550-3200/- as applicable under V Pay Commission (Annexure-A/7). By order dated 4.9.2000 (Annexure-A/8), he
was given adhoc promotion to the post of Stockman in the scale of
Rs.3050-4590/- with effect from 5.9.2000, which pay scale was later revised to
Rs.4000-6000/- with effect from 1.1.1996, vide order dated 6-10-2004
(Annexure-A/10).
5. Against this backdrop,
we come to Annexures-A/12 and A/13 which are the representations from the Lab.
Attendants of the Institute requesting that since they have completed 12 years
of regular service in the year 2006, the respondents should create promotional
avenues for Lab. Attendants with SSLC qualification and secondly to declare
them as eligible to receive full pension (generally available after 33 years of
continuous service) by counting their earlier casual service. Both these representations are not yet been replied
by the Respondents.
6. In the meantime, the
respondents have issued Office Order No.CSI/PF/07, dated 8.10.07,
(Annexure-A/14), holding the applicant and 12 others as eligible for 1st
ACP with effect from 1.9.2008. By
another order dated 14.2.2007 (Annexure-A/15), the respondents had already
granted 1st ACP to one Smt. Padmavathi, Poultry Attendant, with
effect from 23.9.2006. The chart
attached along with this order shows that the said Smt. Padmavathi was given
temporary status on 1.9.1993 and was regularised on 18.10.1995. Counting from date of regularisation, the
date of completion of 12 years for the purpose of 1st ACP would be
18.10.2007. However, the department has
looked into her service rendered as temporary status which comes to 2 years one
month and 17 days and have given her 50% advantage against the same, i.e., for
1 year and 24 days, thus, bringing forward her date of 1st ACP to
23.9.2006. In fact, this chart
containing names of 17 employees shows that for all of them 50% of their service
in temporary status has been counted for the purpose of preponing their date of
1st ACP which would otherwise be given only on completion 12 years
of regular service. Although, the said
Annexure-A/15 has not originated in the Central Frozen Semen Production
Institute, Hessarghatta, Bangalore under the Director of Animal Husbandry,
Ministry of Agriculture, it falls under a sister concern, viz., Central Poultry
Development Organisation, Hessarghatta, falling under the same Director of
Animal Husbandry.
7. Replying to the prayer
that the applicant should be given the benefit of his entire casual service
right from 9.12.1980, for the purpose of Pension and alsocounting the date of
his 1st ACP, the respondents have taken the following four
objections:
(a) The
applicant has not made any proper representation to the department, thus
approached the Tribunal without exhausting the internal remedy and hence, his
application is premature. The 2
representations submitted as referred in the OA at Annexures-A/12 and A/13, are
collective representations which do not give to the department his specific
details or prayer for remedy, hence, do
not qualify for exhausting internal remedy.
(b) The
case of certain benefit given by Railway Board to Railway employees towards
their service as casual labourer (refer to Annexure-A/13 in the OA), is
applicable only to the Railway employees and not to the applicant, whose
institution is under the Ministry of Agriculture. Hence, invocation of Art. 14 and 16 of
Constitution is not relevant.
(c)
The judgment quoted in the OA (Annexure/A-16) in
case of Writ Petition No.15668/01, of Madras High Court for Pensionary benefits
on completion of 240 days as casual labour has been passed on the basis of a
judgment of Supreme Court in SLP No.6715/2007 and the said order of the SLP
relates to the controversy involving that case alone. The Supreme Court has not laid down any
general principle and hence, the said SLP or the said Writ Petition does not
become a precedence.
(d) As per Casual Labourers (Grant of
Temporary Status and Regularisation) Scheme, 1993, 50% of the service rendered
under temporary status is to be counted for the purpose of retirement benefits
after regularisation. Accordingly, the
applicant is not entitled to counting of 50% service under temporary status for
the purpose of deciding his eligibility for 1st ACP.
8. We have considered all
the arguments along with the rejoinder and heard both the learned
counsels. The rejoinder does not answer
the four specific objections raised in the reply statement. We are also not convinced at this stage that
this Tribunal has to pass any direction regarding counting of his service
towards pensionary benefits as prayed in para 8 (i) in the OA. If necessary, the applicant may make a proper
and detailed representation to the department and seek the relief there. As regards the prayer at para 8 (ii), we are
not convinced by the arguments of the applicant, who has held the post of daily
worker or adhoc worker in the rank of LDC
(Group-'C') which has nothing to do with his temporary status under
Group 'D'. However, it is worth
examining whether pre-ponement of his date of I ACP by counting 50% of his work
as temporary status can be counted.
Although the learned counsel for respondents has raised the objection
No. (d) above, he has not been able to explain as to how, for another
institution situated in the same location, Hessarghatta, under the same
Director of Animal Husbandry, viz., the Central Poultry Development
Organisation, the order dated 14.2.2007 (Annexure-A/15) has been passed in
which all the 17 employees have been given the benefit of 50% of their service
in temporary status, thus, in effect, preponing their date of 1st
ACP.
9. In view of the above,
the OA is partly allowed with the direction to the respondents to consider the
applicability of Annexure-A/15 to the present applicant also. The decision in this regard should be taken
within two months and any consequential financial benefits be paid thereafter
within next two months.
10. No order as to costs.
(V. AJAY KUMAR) (LEENA MEHENDALE)
MEMBER (J) MEMBER (A)
psp.
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