The Kerala High Court dismissed a petition by Deputy Office Superintendents seeking higher grade pay and pay fixation benefits following the Sixth CPC. Upholding Central Administrative Tribunal, the Court held that grade pay of Rs.4,200/- was correct due to scale mergers.
Petition dismissed. No costs awarded to the applicants.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE V.CHITAMBARESH
&
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHOK MENON
FRIDAY, THE 14TH DAY OF JUNE 2019 / 24TH JYAISHTA, 1941
OP (CAT).No. 1258 of 2012
AGAINST THE ORDER/JUDGMENT IN OA 285/2011 of CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL,ERNAKULAM BENCH DATED 25.1.2012
PETITIONERS/APPLICANTS:
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6 M.R.SUKUMARAN DEPUTY OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT(RTD), MANDOLI HOUSE, ANJOOR.P.O, MUNDOOR, TRICHUR.
BY ADV. SRI.C.S.GOPALAKRISHNAN NAIR
RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENTS:
CENTRAL BOARD OF EXCISE & CUSTOMS, NORTH BLOCK, NEW DELHI- 110 001.
BY ADVS.
SHRI.P.VIJAYAKUMAR, ASG OF INDIA SRI.K.R.RAJKUMAR, CGC SRI.THOMAS MATHEW NELLIMOOTTIL, SC FOR CBEC
THIS OP (CAT) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 10.06.2019, THE COURT ON 14.06.2019 PASSED THE FOLLOWING:
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J U D G M E N T
Ashok Menon, J.
The applicants, who were working as Deputy
Office Superintendents ('DOS' for short) in the Central Excise and Customs Department, the third respondent herein, point out to an anomaly regarding fixation of their pay scale following the Sixth Central Pay Commission(CPC).
they were not granted pay fixation benefits under
FR 22(1)(a)(i) of the Fundamental Rules for
promotion to the post of DOS from the post of
Senior Tax Assistant, a feeder category for
promotion as DOS. Secondly, the grade pay
sanctioned for both the posts is similar and that
being a promotion post, DOS should be given a
higher grade pay of Rs.4,600/- in place of
Rs.4,200/- granted by the Department.
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Central Administrative Tribunal, Ernakulam Bench and the Tribunal vide the impugned order dated 25.1.2012 accepted the contention of the applicants regarding their entitlement for fixation of pay under FR 22(1)(a)(i) on promotion from the post of Senior Tax Assistants as DOSs, but rejected their claim for the higher grade pay of Rs.4,600/-. Aggrieved by this order obtained rejecting the grade pay, the applicants are before us in this Original Petition.
learned counsel appearing for the petitioners and Sri.K.R.Rajkumar, learned Central Government Counsel appearing for the respondents. Documents perused.
consideration before us is whether the petitioners
are entitled to a higher grade pay of Rs.4,600/-
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instead of Rs.4,200/- as DOSs for the reason that the post of Senior Tax Assistant from which they were promoted as DOSs has now been granted the same scale of DOS, thereby nullifying the financial benefits of promotion.
as Inspector of Central Excise and the other as Deputy Office Superintendent. A Senior Tax
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Assistant having three years of service is eligible
for promotion to the post of DOS, whereas a Senior Tax Assistant having two years of service and on qualifying a specific departmental examination is eligible for promotion as an Inspector.
No.662/2010 before the Tribunal for similar
benefits and the same was disposed of vide order dated 29.7.2010 with a direction to respondents 1 to 3 to consider their representation and pass appropriate orders. Consequently, the Government examined whether the pay of Senior Tax Assistants on their promotion as Deputy Office Superintendents could be fixed by giving one increment as both these cadres are holding the same grade pay. The requests for granting benefit under FR 22(1)(a)(i) as well as for granting the higher grade pay were rejected vide order dated 4.2.2011 and that order, produced as Annexure-A11 was challenged before the
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Tribunal in OA No.285/2011.
were merged during the implementation of the Sixth CPC. On account of merger, the pre-revised scales of Rs.5,000-8,000/-, Rs.5,500-9,000/- and Rs.6,50010,500/- granted to different posts have been granted a uniform grade pay of Rs.4,200/-. What is to be understood here is that the cadre of Inspector holding a pre-revised scale of Rs.6,50010,500/- was given a grade pay of Rs.4,600/-, considering the fact that there is direct recruitment to the post of Inspectors of Central Excise Department through an All India competitive examination, whereas the post of DOS is filled entirely by way of promotion. The RP Rules would indicate that the grade pay of Rs.4,600/- is attached to the pre-revised scale of Rs.7,45011,500/- whereas the erstwhile pay scale of Rs.6,500-10,500/-, after merger with two other
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lower scales, is given only a grade pay of Rs.4,200/-. The post of DOS was holding a prerevised scale of only Rs.5,500-9,000/- and has now been merged into a single pay band of having a
grade pay of Rs.4,200/-. The Tribunal has therefore, rightly rejected the claim of the applicants for a higher grade pay. We do not find any error on that finding of the Tribunal requiring interference by us.
The Original Petition is dismissed. No costs.
Sd/-
V.CHITAMBARESH
JUDGE
Sd/-
ASHOK MENON
JUDGE
jg
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APPENDIX
PETITIONERS' EXHIBITS
EXHIBIT P1 PHOTOCOPY OF OA NO.285/2011 ALONG WITH ITS ANNEXURES
ANNEXURE-A11 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER F.NO.A23011/40/2010-AD.IIA DATED 4.2.2011 ISSUED BY THE 2ND RESPONDENT.
ANNEUXRE-A1 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO.130/09 DATED 30.9.09 ISSUED BY R4.
ANNEXURE-A2 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE GAZETTE NOTIFICATION DATED 29.8.2008 ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF EXPENDITURE COMMUNICATED BY THE 2ND RESPONDENT.
ANNEXURE-A3 IN OA TRUE COPY OF OM NO.11012/7/2008 ESTT (A) DATED 17.4.2009 ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL & TRAINING.
ANNEXURE-A4 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, CENTRAL EXCISE & CUSTOMS, DEPUTY OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT, GROUP 'B' POST RECRUITMENT RULES 2009
ANNEXURE-A5 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE PAY FIXATION STATEMENT DATED 19.9.2008 ISSUED BY THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL EXCISE, TRICHUR.
ANNEXURE-A6 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE C.NO.II /24 3/ 2008 PT.II DATED 13.4.2010 ISSUED BY THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL EXCISE & CUSTOMS, TRICHUR DIVISION.
ANNEXURE-A7 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE OM NO.F.NO.1/1/2008-IC DATED 13.11.2009 ISSUED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT
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ANNEXURE-A8 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE LETTER F NO.A26017/762009-AD.II A DATED 29.9.2009 ISSUED BY R2.
ANNEUXRE-A9 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE REPRESENTATION DATED 17.6.2009 SUBMITTED BY THE 6TH APPLICANT. ANNEUXRE-A10 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 29.7.2010 IN OA NO.662/2010. ANNEXURE-A12 IN OA TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DATED 11.2.2011 IN CPC NO.3/2011. EXHIBIT P2 PHOTOCOPY OF THE REPLY STATEMENT. EXHIBIT P3 PHOTOCOPY OF THE REJOINDER STATEMENT FILED BY THE PETITIONERS EXHIBIT P4 PHOTOCOPY OF THE ADDITIONAL REPLY STATEMENT. EXHIBIT P5 PHOTOCOPY OF THE ADDITIONAL REJOINDER EXHIBIT P6 PHOTOCOPY OF THE ORDER IN OA NO.285/2011 DATED 25.1.2012.
RESPONDENTS' EXHIBITS
EXHIBIT R1(a) TRUE COPY OF CLARIFICATION DATED 9.9.2010 ISSUED BY AD II A SECTION
//TRUE COPY//
2 issues framed by the court
Whether Deputy Office Superintendents promoted from Senior Tax Assistants are entitled to higher grade pay of Rs.4,600/- instead of Rs.4,200/- under FR 22(1)(a)(i)?
Whether the merger of pay scales nullifies the financial benefits of promotion from Senior Tax Assistant to Deputy Office Superintendent?
2 provisions across 2 enactments
T.G.BABU PRAKASH
THOMAS.P.PHILIP
P.K.SALEEM
K.BHASKARAN
K.UNNIKRISHNAN
M.R.SUKUMARAN
V.CHITAMBARESH
ASHOK MENON
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
