Court No. - 39
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 7911 of 2021 Petitioner :- Union Of India And 10 Others Respondent :- Pravesh Chandra Gupta And 11 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Naresh Chandra Tripahti Counsel for Respondent :- Jaswant Singh
Hon'ble Mrs. Sunita Agarwal,J. Hon'ble Mrs. Sadhna Rani (Thakur),J.
Heard Sri N.C. Tripathi, learned counsel for the petitioners and Sri Jashwant Singh, learned Advocate appearing for the respondents.
The petitioners herein are aggrieved by the decision of Central Administrative Tribunal, Allahabad Bench, Allahabad dated 26.02.2021 whereby the following directions have been issued:-
"In view of the above discussion, this Tribunal is of the opinion that the DoPT letter dated 18.10.2019 jis definitely in teeth of all the above cited judgments. In wake of the undisputed fact that all the applicants have completed one year of service before their retirement on 30th June, although in different years, all the impugned orders rejecting the claim of the applicants for release of the increment are quashed and set aside. The respondents are directed to grant one notional increment to the applicants for the period from 1st July to 30th June for the respective years in which they have retired and to re-fix their pension accordingly, if the applicants are found otherwise eligible for grant of such notional increment. It is further directed that arrears be paid to be eligible applicants within three months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order."
The benefit of notional increment for the period from 1st July to 30th June of the respective years in which the respondents had retired, had been given by the Tribunal relying upon the decision of Madras High Court in Writ Petition No. 15732 of 2017 (P. Ayyamperumal Vs. The Registrar, Central Administrative Tribunal and others). To accord consideration for grant of notional increment keeping in view of the law laid down by the Madras High Court, this Court has also entertained writ petitions and passed orders. One of such decisions has been appended with the writ petition and is relevant to be noted hereunder:-
"Petitioner submits that he is entitled to notional increment for the period 1.7.2017 to 30.6.2018, in light of the judgment of the Madras High Court dated 15.9.2017 passed in Writ Petition No.15732 of 2017 (P. Ayyamperumal Vs. The Registrar, Central Administrative Tribunal and others), against which a special leave petition filed before the Supreme Court has been rejected on 23rd July, 2018. It is stated that denial of annual increment to the petitioner, in the facts and circumstances, is wholly arbitrary. It is also urged that various representation made in that regard have not been bestowed any consideration and hence this writ petition.
While entertaining the writ petition, time was granted to the learned Standing Counsel to file a counter affidavit on 18th April, 2019. No counter affidavit has been filed. Considering the nature of the order proposed to be passed, no further time is liable to be granted to the learned Standing Counsel to file a counter affidavit, and the writ petition is being disposed of, at this stage itself.
In the facts and circumstances, noticed above, this writ petition stands disposed of with a direction upon the respondent no.2 to accord consideration to petitioner's claim for grant of notional increment w.e.f. 1.7.2017 to 30.6.2018, keeping in view the law laid down in the matter, by passing a reasoned order, within a period of two months from the date of presentation of certified copy of this order"
It could not be said that any order passed by this court relying upon the decision of Madras High Court had been subjected to challenge before the Apex Court or has been altered.
Considering the above, we find that the respondents-applicants herein are entitled for the benefit of notional promotion for the period from 1st July to 30th June for the respective years in which they had retired. The petitioners herein are, therefore, directed to compute the benefits payable to the respondents pursuant to the above directions.
The writ petition is accordingly disposed of.
Order Date :- 28.7.2021 gp