Judgment:
CWP No.15235 of 1991 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH333 CWP No.15235 of 1991 Date of Decision : April 02, 2014 Jodha Singh and another ...PETITIONERS versus State of Haryana and others ....RESPONDENTS CORAM : HON'BLE Mr.JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Present : Mr.Jagjeet Beniwal, Advocate, for the petitioneRs.Mr.D.S.Nalwa, Additional Advocate General, Haryana, for the State.
AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J.
(ORAL) Petitioners have approached this Court praying for the grant of Master's Grade from the date of their joining as Drawing Teachers and for that, they have based their claim upon the Instructions dated 23.07.1957, wherein it is stated that the Teachers will be entitled to the pay scale according to the qualifications possessed by them.
Reliance has also been placed upon the judgment passed by this Court in CWP No.5974 of 1989 titled as Satbir Singh Malik versus State of Haryana and otheRs.decided on 30.04.1990, wherein similarly placed employees as the petitioners Prerna datta 2014.04.04 10:11 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document High Court, Chandigarh CWP No.15235 of 1991 2 have been granted the benefit of Master's Grade.
Reliance has also been placed on the Full Bench judgment passed by this Court in CWP No.551 of 1986 titled as Bhagwan Dutt Sharma and others versus State of Haryana and otheRs.decided on 12.05.1988.
On the other hand, counsel for the State has contended that the Instructions dated 23.07.1957 would not be applicable to the claim of the petitioners in the light of the Haryana Government Instructions dated 09.03.1991 (Annexure R-I).wherein it is clarified in para-6 that the Teachers of the Education Department would not be entitled to be placed in the higher scales of pay in terms of para 3 of the Punjab Government letter dated 23.07.1957 or any subsequent letter/notification issued by the Government of Haryana.
They would be entitled to the scale of pay of their respective categories to which they are appointed against the sanctioned posts and mere possessing/acquiring of higher qualifications will not entitle them automatically to claim higher pay scale.
On the basis of these instructions, counsel contends that the petitioners cannot be granted the grade of Master's as prayed by them.
It has further been asserted by him that the claim of higher qualifications is only restricted to those teachers who have acquired higher qualification during the service and not to those teachers who already possess qualifications at the time of their initial appointment.
The contention of the counsel for the State that the instructions dated 23.07.1957 would not be applicable to the claim of the petitioneRs.cannot be accepted in the light of the fact that no Prerna datta instructions have been brought to the notice of the Court withdrawing 2014.04.04 10:11 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document High Court, Chandigarh CWP No.15235 of 1991 3 the earlier instructions dated 23.07.1957.
The clarification, if any as has been referred to in the instructions dated 09.03.1991, would be applicable prospectively and would not have a retrospective effect.
The contention of the counsel for the State that the claim would be restricted to those teachers only who improve their qualifications after coming into service, cannot be accepted in the light of the fact that similar claim has already been accepted by this Court in Satbir Singh's case (supra) and the benefit granted to the petitioners therein.
On the facts of the present case, the claim of the petitioners is covered by the ratio of the Full Bench Judgment in Bhagwan Dutt Sharma's case (supra).The case of the petitioners is also covered by the judgment passed by this Court in Satbir Singh Malik's case (supra).which pertains to the same categories of the employees as the petitioners and were claiming the same benefit as the petitioners herein.
The present writ petition is thus, allowed in same terms as in Satbir singh Malik's case (supra).The consequential benefits be released to the petitioners within a period of two months' from the date of receipt of certified copy of the order.
Arrears shall, however, be restricted to 38 months prior to the date of filing of the writ petition i.e.28.09.1991.
(AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) April 02, 2014 JUDGE pj Prerna datta 2014.04.04 10:11 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document High Court, Chandigarh