Allowed

Joginder Lal v. Union of India

Himachal Pradesh HC5 Nov 2024CMP/18497/2024

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

This judgment allowed a writ petition filed by a Postal Assistant regarding unequal pay and benefits compared to regular appointees. The Court relied on a prior Punjab and Haryana High Court decision to direct payment of consequential benefits, though interest was denied due to delay.

What did the court decide?

Petitioner entitled to all consequential benefits at par with those in Pardeep Jain's case; interest on arrears denied.

Joginder Lal Vs Union of India — Pension and Retirement Benefits | Himachal Pradesh HC (2024)

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( 2024:HHC:10702 )

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA

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CWP No. 780 of 2017

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Date of decision: 05.11.2024.

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Joginder Lal …..Appellant. Versus Union of India and others …..Respondents. Coram

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The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Acting Chief Justice. The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Satyen Vaidya, Judge.

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Whether approved for reporting?¹ For the Appellant : Ms. Sikha Chauhan, Advocate. For the Respondents : Mr. Balram Sharma, Dy. Solicitor General of India with Mr. Rajeev Sharma, Advocate.

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Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Acting Chief Justice (Oral)

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CMP No.18497 of 2024.

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This is an application seeking early hearing of the writ

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petition.

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The writ petition was instituted in 2017. The record shows that the writ petition was admitted on 29.06.2017.

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1 Whether the reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the Judgment?Yes

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( 2024:HHC:10702 )

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Learned counsel for the applicant/petitioner says that

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the issue raised in the instant petition is covered by several judgments.

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Accordingly, the prayer made in the application is

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allowed.

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The writ petition is taken for hearing and final disposal with the consent of counsel for the parties.

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CWP No. 780 of 2017.

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This writ petition is directed against the order dated 24.05.2016 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (Chandigarh Bench) [hereafter referred to as the “Tribunal”].

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Via the impugned order, the Tribunal dismissed the Original Application [O.A.] filed by the petitioner on the ground of delay and laches.

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On facts, it is pleaded by the petitioner that he was appointed as a Postal Assistant (Reserved Trained Pool) in the year 1982.

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8.1 The petitioner was, thereafter, appointed as a regular Postal Assistant in the year 1987.

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Since the petitioner was not treated at par with the regular Postal Assistants concerning pay, allowances, and seniority,

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( 2024:HHC:10702 )

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he approached the Tribunal in and about 1990. The petitioner’s O.A.

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was numbered 1402/HP/1990.

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The said O.A. was allowed by the Tribunal via order dated 01.01.1992. The operative part of the said order reads as follows:

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“For the above mentioned reasons, we accept this Application and hold that the applicants are entitled to be paid the same salary and allowances as were being paid to the postal assistants appointed on regular basis for the period during which the applicants had been working in the R.T.P. Accordingly, the respondents are directed to pay the arrears i.e. difference between the amount already paid to the applicants and the amount to the payment of which the applicants are entitled on the basis of this judgment and also all other consequential benefits within a period of 3 months from today. ” [Emphasis is ours]

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Strangely, although the Tribunal had directed payment

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of arrears along with consequential benefits to the petitioner, the petitioner chose not to enforce the order, perhaps, due to a misunderstanding of the directions issued by the Tribunal.

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The petitioner woke up to the fact that it had been granted relief when the Punjab and Haryana High Court rendered its decision on 18.02.2014 in CWP No. 1466-CAT, titled Union of India

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& others vs.Pardeep Jain & others .

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( 2024:HHC:10702 )

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On the basis of the said judgment, the petitioner preferred a representation that was not responded to. The petitioner, along with other similarly situated persons, thereafter, preferred O.As. before the Tribunal.

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The Tribunal, via order dated 24.12.2014, disposed of the O.As. with a direction to the respondents to consider the representation made by the petitioner.

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14.1 The representation of the petitioner was rejected by the concerned authority via order dated 23.03.2015.

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It is against this backdrop that the petitioner preferred a second O.A. before the Tribunal, which was dismissed, as noticed above, on the grounds of delay and laches via order dated 24.05.2016.

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Ms. Shikha Chauhan, learned counsel, who appears on behalf of the petitioner, says that the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Union of India & others vs. Pardeep Jain & others has been implemented by the respondents.

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16.1 For this purpose, our attention has been drawn to the communication dated 03.04.2014, addressed by the Assistant Director, Postal Services, Haryana Circle, Ambala inter alia to the HR Division Ambala. In addition, thereto, in support of the plea that the aforementioned judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court

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( 2024:HHC:10702 )

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has been implemented, our attention was also drawn to the communication dated 26.05.2014 addressed by the Superintendent, RMS, HR Division Ambala to the HRO RMS HR Division Ambala.

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Mr. Balram Sharma, learned Deputy Solicitor General of India, does not dispute the fact that despite delay being propped as a defence in Pardeep Jain’s case, the Court ruled against the respondents and the judgment was subsequently, as noticed above, implemented.

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In this peculiar case, the Tribunal, in the first round, had directed the respondents to grant not only arrears of pay but also consequential benefits. Despite this, the petitioner failed to comprehend the import of the directions passed in his favour.

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Be that as it may, the petitioner’s cause is not different from the cause which was addressed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Pardeep Jain’s case. Therefore, we are inclined to allow the writ petition.

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The petitioner will be paid all consequential benefits at par with those whose cause was the subject matter of Pardeep Jain’s case.

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Ms.Chauhan concedes that since the petitioner delayed enforcement of the order passed by the Tribunal in the first round,

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( 2024:HHC:10702 )

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the petitioner cannot lay claim to interest on arrears with effect from 01.01.1992 till 23.03.2015.

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(Tarlok Singh Chauhan) Acting Chief Justice

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(Satyen Vaidya) Judge

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5^th November, 2024. ( krt/yogesh )

Joginder Lal v. Union of India

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Joginder Lal v. Union of India

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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