The High Court dismissed a writ petition by 100 government servants challenging G.O.Ms.No. 95/2023 which replaced advance increments for higher qualifications with a lump-sum incentive scheme effective from 10.03.2020, holding the new policy ensures parity and the petitioners are only entitled to lump-sum incentives, not increments.
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W.P.No.1669 of 2024
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 30.01.2024
CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE G.K.ILANTHIRAIYAN
W.P.No.1669 of 2024 and WMP.Nos.1707 & 1709 of 2024
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26 V. VIDHYA
27 T. THIRUMOORTHY
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63 S.RAMYA
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98 M. POONGODI 99 T. NAVANEETHAKUMAR 100 S. TAMILSELVI
....Petitioners
Versus
PRAYER: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of Constitution of India p raying to issue a writ of certiorarified mandamus calling for the records of the 1st Respondent in G.O.Ms.No. 95 Human Resources Management (FR-IV) Department dated 26.10.2023 and quash the same in so far as the said government order has in paras 7 and 8 made an
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unreasonable classification violative of Article 14 of the Constitution between claims for additional incentive for having acquired the additional qualification prior to 10.03.2023 which are pending or not made as on 10.03.2020 being the date of G.O.Ms.No.37 Personnel and Administrative Reforms (FR-VI) Department and claims for additional incentive which have already been processed and sanctioned prior to 10.03.2020 will be continued to receive incentive in the salary and consequently direct the first respondent to grant the 1st and 2nd incentive, as the case may be, for the petitioners who have acquired additional qualification prior to 10.03.2020 and are eligible for sanction of increment in their salary.
For Petitioners : Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram, Senior Counsel for M/s.C.Uma
For Respondents : Dr.T.Seenivasan, Special Government Pleader
ORDER
This writ petition has been filed challenging the
Government Order in G.O.Ms.No. 95 Human Resources Management (FR-IV) Department dated 26.10.2023 passed by the first respondent.
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26.10.2023 and Government servants who acquired higher qualification prior to 10.03.2020 being the date of G.O.Ms.No. 37 but not sanctioned due to various administrative reasons are treated equally resulting in unequals being treated equally violating Article 14 of the Constitution. The Government servants who have acquired the higher qualification prior to 10.03.2020 should be treated separately and incentives in their salary should be sanctioned.
2.2 The further case of the petitioners is that there are many cases where the higher qualifications for higher qualification were acquired prior to 10.03.2020 being the dated of G.O.Ms.No. 37 Personal and Administrative Reforms Department additional incentives have been sanctioned without any objections from the audit department like in the case of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department. As per the G.O.Ms.No.116 Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department dated 15.10.2020, clarifications of the cancellation of the Scheme of sanction of advance increment in all departments issued. As such, the cases of Government Servants who have acquired higher qualification
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prior to the date of issue of the Government order 1st read above and not sanctioned with advance increment/not applied for sanction of advance increment by the Government servant concerned may be examined separately as per para 6(vi) of the Government order 1st read above and appropriate orders to be issued before 31.03.2021. The specific stand of the petitioners is that the Government ought to have passed orders before 31.03.2021 sanctioning additional increment for Government servants who have acquired additional qualification.
(Ms) No. 37, Personnel and Administrative Reforms (FR-IV) department,
dated 10.03.2020, it has clearly been mentioned as follows:-
"The cases of Government servants who have acquired higher qualification prior to issue of this general order, and not sanctioned with advance increments be examined separately as per the previous orders issued, if any, by the administrative department concerned and with reference to the posts specified in that order and if he is otherwise qualified, then the advance increment may be sanctioned by the administrative
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department concerned after obtaining concurrence of Finance department. If no previous orders were issued by any of the department concerned, then they are not eligible for sanction of any advance increments for passing higher qualification irrespective of the post held/degree acquired."
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India and orders have been issued in G.O.Ms.No.120, Human Resources
Management (FR-IV) Department, dated 01.11.2021, for granting incentive in the form of one-time lumpsum amount to the State Government Employees for having acquired additional qualification after 10.03.2020 as follows:-
| Sl.No. | Higher Qualification | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ph.D | 25,000/- |
| 2. | PG Degree or equivalent | 20,000/- |
| 3. | Degree/Diploma | 10,000/- |
candidates with higher educational qualifications. Hence, to expeditiously process and bring clarity to the scheme of granting incentive, in partial modification of the orders issued in GO (Ms)No. 116, Personnel and Administrative Reforms (FR-IV) Department, dated 15.10.2020 and G.O. (Ms)No. 120, Human Resources Management (FRIV) Department, dated 01.11.2021 and clarifications issued in Letter No.4470/FR-IV/2022-1, Human Resources Management (FR-IV) Department, dated 18.02.2022, the cut-off date for sanction of advance increments for having acquired higher educational qualifications ended
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and the new scheme of sanction of lumpsum amount is ordered to take effect from 10.03.2020.
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acquiring higher qualification since by the orders issued in the above, the lumpsum amount shall be granted only for those who have acquired higher qualification and not sanctioned with advance increment till date.
to costs.
30.01.2024 Internet: Yes (2/2) Index: Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking order lok
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To
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G.K.ILANTHIRAIYAN, J.
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30.01.2024
2 issues framed by the court
Whether G.O.Ms.No. 95/2023 violates Article 14 by treating government servants who acquired higher qualifications before 10.03.2020 but whose claims were pending equally with those acquiring qualifica
Whether petitioners are entitled to advance increments in salary for higher qualifications acquired before 10.03.2020 under the earlier policy.
3 provisions across 2 enactments
M. ANANDAKUMAR
S. NIRMALA RANI TAMILSELVI
State of Tamil Nadu (Chief Secretary, Human Resources Management Dept)
State of Tamil Nadu (Secretary, Personnel and Administrative Reforms Dept)
Director, Tamil Nadu Government Audit Department
Joint Director (Personnel), School Education Department
G.K. ILANTHIRAIYAN
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
