By way of this petition, the petitioner has prayed for certain relief. This Court on 16.8.2012 has observed that prima facie the issues are squarely covered by the decision of this Court passed in Special Civil Application No. 7464 of 1996 on 21.1.2011 which reads as under: “1. The present petition is filed by a group of 54 employees praying for extending the benefits of higher pay-scale on completion of 9-18-27 years of service from their respective date of appointment. The prayer in para 14 (B) of the petition is for setting aside the Government Resolution dated 16th August, 1994 (Annexure-D). It is prayed in para 14 (BB) that the order dated 7th June, 1999 rejecting the claim of petitioners be also quashed. Prayer in para 14 (BBB) seeks direction to convert the petitioners from employees on Work-Charge Establishment to Temporary Establishment on completion of five years of service and grant the relief of higher pay-scale from the respective due dates.
2. Learned Assistant Government Pleader could not dispute that the benefit of converting the work-charge employees to Temporary Establishment was available to the petitioners. In fact, the petitioners have, vide Annexure-E, placed on record details about the dates of their respective appointments and dates from which they were taken on the Temporary Establishment.
3. The short grievance made in the present petition is that the Government has issued G.R. dated 7th July, 1993 (Annexure-B) and accordingly the persons who have completed five years of service in Work-Charge Establishment are required to be converted into employees on Temporary Establishment. But, in the present case, as could be seen from Annexure-E, the persons who were recruited on Work-Charge Establishment in 1973, 1975 and 1977 respectively, were converted into Temporary Establishment in 1990, though the benefit ought to have been granted on completion of five years of service on Work-Charge Establishment. To quote an example, petitioner No.1 Shri T.P.Patel was appointed on 15th March, 1973 and he was taken on Temporary Establishment on 4th August, 1990. According to the G.R. which has been placed on record, the petitioners ought to have been taken from Work-Charge Establishment to Temporary Establishment on completion of five years of service. This benefit was not granted, as a result of which the benefit of higher pay-scales on completion of 9-18-27 years of service have also been inordinately delayed. The petitioners have placed on record the G.R. dated 17.01.2000 which states that employees who have completed five years of service on Work-Charge Establishment are required to be converted into employees on Temporary Establishment.
4. The petitioners have also relied upon the order dated 22.9.1998 of this Court (Coram: K.R.Vyas, J.) in another Special Civil Application No.2549 of 1998. Learned A.G.P. fairly conceded that the issue in the present petition is covered by that earlier order.
Reliance is also placed on G.R.No.WCE-1272/(2)/G dated 16th August, 1973 of which relevant para 2 reads as under:
“The head of the department under PWD are therefore requested to please ensure that work charge posts in respect of maintenance and repairs of any works or irrigation management which are proposed for conversion to Temporary Establishment should have been continuously in existence for a minimum period of five years and are required either permanently or on very long term basis; say 10 to 15 years.”
5. The petitioners have placed on record G.R. dated 5th July, 1991, wherein it is mentioned that “the benefit shall be available even to the employees of Panchayat and Primary Teachers with necessary modification”. That resolution is directly applicable to the petitioners who are working under the Executive Engineer, Roads and Buildings Department in its workshop at Ahmedabad.
6. The prayer in para 14 (B) of the petition is not pressed by learned advocate for the petitioners as the Government Resolutions directing conversion of work-charge employees as temporary employees on completion of five years of service are not disputed by learned A.G.P.
7. In view of undisputed facts about due conversion of the petitioners from Work-Charge Establishment to Temporary Establishment on the date they completed five years of service, the natural consequences would be that on completion of nine years of service from the date they are deemed to have been converted from Work-Charge Establishment to Temporary Establishment, the benefit of higher pay-scale under the scheme of 9-18-
27 years of service would be available to the petitioners.
8. Therefore, the respondents are directed to grant the benefit of conversion of the petitioners from Work-Charge Establishment to Temporary Establishment on completion of five years as work- charge employees from the date of their initial appointment which is indicated in column-4 of the statement (Annexure-E to the petition) and accordingly further directed to grant higher pay-scales from the date the petitioners have completed nine, eighteen and twenty seven years of service on Temporary Establishment.
9. During the course of hearing of the petition, it was submitted by learned advocate for the petitioners that out of 54 petitioners, few of them have retired and few of them have expired. It is, therefore, directed that those petitioners who have retired and/or expired will also be entitled to the benefit of higher pay-scale and they or their legal heirs, as the case may be, shall be paid the amounts falling due by virtue of this order, within two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
Rule is made absolute accordingly to the aforesaid extent, with no order as to costs.”
The said order was challenged in Letters Patent Appeal No. 1360 of 2011. The Division Bench by its order dated 17.10.2011 confirmed the order of learned Single Judge.
In that view of the matter, the petitioners will be given the benefit of the judgement passed in Special Civil Application No. 7464 of 1996 on 21.1.2011.
The petition is allowed to the aforesaid extent. Rule is made absolute accordingly. No order as to costs.
(K.S. JHAVERI, J) (pkn)