Patna High Court
Case Details
Patna High Court CWJC No.3689 of 2012 (14) dt.19-06-2013 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.3689 of 2012 ====================================================== Rajendra Prasad Chauhary Versus .... .... Petitioner/s The Zila Parishad Katihar & Or .... Respondent/s ====================================================== with Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.15079 of 2004 ====================================================== Shiv Prasad Lal .... .... Petitioner/s Versus The State Of Bihar & Ors .... Respondent/s ====================================================== with Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.4487 of 2005 ====================================================== Brahmdeo Kunwar .... .... Petitioner/s Versus The State Of Bihar & Ors ... .... Respondent/s ====================================================== with Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.4883 of 2008 ====================================================== Gopi Kant Mishra Versus .... .... Petitioner/s The State Of Bihar & Ors .... Respondent/s ====================================================== with Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.1297 of 2013 ====================================================== Ranjeet Pd. Chaudhary Versus .... .... Petitioner/s
Legal Reasoning
The Zila Parishad Katihar & Or .... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance : (In CWJC No.3689 of 2012) For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Narayan Singh Mr. Rama Nand Poddar For the Respondent/s : Mr. Sanjay Kumar Singh, AC to GP 22 For the Zila Parishad : Mr. K.B.Nath, Advocate Mr. Durga Narayan, Advocate (In CWJC No.15079 of 2004) For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Arun Kumar Bhagat Mr. Samir Kr.Singh Patna High Court CWJC No.3689 of 2012 (14) dt.19-06-2013 2 For the Respondent/s : Mr. (Gp6) Mr. Nikesh Kumar (In CWJC No.4487 of 2005) For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Asha Kumari Mr. Arvind Kumar For the Respondent/s : Mr. (Gp6) Mr. Parimal Chandra Das Mr. Amitesh Kumar (In CWJC No.4883 of 2008) For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Mithilesh Kr.Singh For the Respondent/s : Mr. (Sc7) Mr. Md.Shahnawaz Ali (In CWJC No.1297 of 2013) For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Rama Nand Poddar For the Respondent/s : Mr. Sanjay Kumar Singh, AC to GP 22 For the Zila Parishad : Mr. K.B.Nath, Advocate Mr. Durga Narayan, Advocate ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SAMARENDRA PRATAP SINGH ORAL ORDER 14 19-06-2013 The five writ applications are taken up together for disposal. The petitioners of all these writ applications superannuated from the services of different Zila Parishads. They seek direction for payment of their salary and their retrial dues as per 6th Pay Commission report. The petitioners of C.W.J.C. No.3689 of 2012 and C.W.J.C. No.1297 of 2013 were employees of Zila Parishad, Katihar; similarly the sole petitioner of C.W.J.C. No.15079 of 2004 was an employee of Samastipur Zila Parishad and the petitioner in C.W.J.C. Patna High Court CWJC No.3689 of 2012 (14) dt.19-06-2013 3 No.4487 of 2005 was an employee of Zila Parishad, Saharsa. The petitioner in C.W.J.C. No.4883 of 2008 was an employee of Darbhanga Zila Parishad. The sole petitioner of C.W.J.C. No.3689 of 2012 retired on 31.7.2011, whereas the petitioner of C.W.J.C. No.1297 of 2013 retired on 31.7.2010. Mr. Narayan Singh, learned counsel appearing in both the writ applications submits that the petitioners have not been paid their retrial dues. He further submits that neither their salary has been revised as per the 6th Pay Commission report nor they have been paid retrial dues in accordance with it. The petitioners state that the respondents have implemented 6th Pay Commission report in respect of Patna Zila Parishad whereas they have adopted discriminatory attitude in respect of employees of Katihar Zila Parishad. Mr. K.B. Nath, learned counsel appearing for the Zila Parishad submits that out of total dues of Rs.13,07,241/-, a sum of Rs.7,75,912/- has been paid to the petitioner of C.W.J.C. No.3689 of 2012 on 15.4.2013. He further submits that remaining amount of Rs.5,29,799/- has been paid to the petitioner vide cheque no.009072 dated 31.5.2013. In support of his submissions, he has produced a letter dated 18.6.2013 Patna High Court CWJC No.3689 of 2012 (14) dt.19-06-2013 4 of D.D.C. cum Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Katihar. He thus submits that the entire retrial due of the petitioner has been paid. Mr. Nath further submits that the petitioner of C.W.J.C. No.1297 of 2013 has retired on 31.7.2010 and amount of gratuity, unutilized Earned Leave, Provident Fund and difference in pay have already been paid to the petitioner and balance of the dues would be paid to him very shortly. This Court vide order dated 11.2.2013 has observed that the State Government cannot escape to share the liability of the Zila Parishads. This Court had occasioned to examine the constitutional set up of the Zila Parishad in case of Uttam Lal Dev & other analogous cases (C.W.J.C. No.9278 of 2005) and by judgment and order dated 20.12.2006 observed as follows: “ ……… In the circumstances, it is declared that both Zila Parishad as well as State Government are obliged to pay the dues of the petitioners due and owing to them lawfully from the Zila Parishad on account of their terminal dues…..” Again by order dated 11.2.2013 in this case, the learned Judge noticed that in respect of some Zila Parishad employees payment is being made on the basis of recommendation of 4th Pay Revision report and in some cases it is being done on the basis of 5th and 6th Pay Revision. It was observed that in no Patna High Court CWJC No.3689 of 2012 (14) dt.19-06-2013 5 uncertain term that the State Government ought to adopt an uniform policy vis-a-viz payment of salary and retrial dues and differential policies for different Zila Parishads cannot but be deprecated. Further more, if the employees are entitled to 6th Pay revision recommendation, all the employees of all the Zila Parishad have to be equally treated irrespective of individual functional status of the Zila Parishad. In the counter affidavit it has been stated that the government has allotted fund for payment of salary and retrial dues of employees of Zila Parishad. A policy decision has been taken that those employees who retired prior to 31.3.2009 would be paid 60% of the dues at the first instance and those retiring up to 31.3.2011 would be paid 40% of the dues and those retiring thereafter would be paid 30% of their dues. It has been further stated in the counter affidavit that all efforts would be taken to pay the retrial dues as per the guide lines and to pay the entire dues as soon as fund is available. I find that the Zila Parishad has taken a decision to gear up the payment of legal dues of the petitioners including post retirement benefits and has made payments as well. Thus, the writ petitions bearing C.W.J.C. No.3689 of 2012 and C.W.J.C. No. 1297 of 2013 are disposed of in terms of the Patna High Court CWJC No.3689 of 2012 (14) dt.19-06-2013 6 observations noted above. The petitioner of C.W.J.C. No. 15079 of 2004 retired on 31.10.2002 from Zila Parishad, Samastipur whereas the petitioner of C.W.J.C. No.4487 of 2005 retired on 1.7.2001 from Zila Parishad, Saharsa. Learned counsel for the Zila Parishad submits that most of the retrial dues of these petitioners have been paid and as soon as the fund is available, the retrial dues of the petitioners would be paid forthwith. The petitioners of these writ applications have retired long back in the year 2001 and 2002, I direct the respondent Zila Parishad to clear the retrial dues of the petitioners on priority basis within four months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The petitioner of C.W.J.C. No.4883 of 2008 retired from Zila Parishad, Darbhanga. Counsel for the Zila Parishad submits that the petitioner has been paid most of his retrial dues. Counsel for the petitioner submits that he has been paid 60% of his retrial dues. The respondent State Government should release the necessary funds for payment of balance amount of retrial dues to the petitioner forthwith. For the reasons stated hereinabove, all these writ Patna High Court CWJC No.3689 of 2012 (14) dt.19-06-2013 7 petitions bearing C.W.J.C. No. 15079 of 2004, C.W.J.C. No.4487 of 2005 and C.W.J.C. No.4883 of 2008 are thus