IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that 'other terms and conditions of service' includes pensionary benefits, affirming the petitioner's entitlement under the relevant statutes.

JUDGMENT :

M.S. Karnik, J.

1. The petitioner herein invokes the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking the following reliefs:

“(a) For an appropriate Writ, order or direction of this Hon'ble Court directing the Respondents to effect the payment of the entire arrears of salary and allowances and related arrears as per the Amendment Act of 2018 alongwith interest thereon @ 12% p.a. from 1/4/2018 till the same is fully and finally paid;

(b) For an appropriate Writ, order or direction of this Hon'ble Court directing the Respondents to finalize/Fix the Petitioner's pension and submit the required papers to the Directorate of Accounts for payments, within such period as may be fixed by this Hon'ble Court;

(c) For an appropriate Writ, order or direction of this Hon'ble Court directing the Respondents to order the payment of the entire amount towards Gratuity and the Leave Encashment amount, alongwith interest thereon @ 12% p.a. from 11/2/2020 till the same is fully and finally paid;

(d) For an appropriate Writ, order or direction of this Hon'ble Court directing the Respondents to order the reimbursement of the payment towards domestic help as per the Notification dated 24/11/2016 of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India published in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) dated 25/11/2016 notifying the Rules for providing domestic help to former Chief Justice of India and former Judges of the Supreme Court and as implemented by the Election Commission of India;”

2. Before we deal with the facts, it is necessary to refer to the observations of this Court in the order dated 20.03.2024. Mr Ramani, learned Senior Advocate for the petitioner admitted that the petitioner has been paid the entire arrears of the salary and allowances and the related arrears as per the Amendment Act, 2018. The relief now sought is for the interest due and payable on this amount for the delayed period. In so far as the prayer clause (c) is concerned, the petitioner has been paid the leave encashment amount on 20.11.2020. Interest for the delayed period is demanded. The petitioner then prayed for gratuity. The core issue in this petition is the dispute whether the petitioner is entitled to any pensionary benefit. The petitioner also prays, in the context of prayer clause (d), for the reimbursement of payment of domestic help in terms of the notification dated 24.11.2016.

3. The facts in a nutshell are as follows.

4. The petitioner has been a practising advocate enrolled with the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa from 01.06.1982. Pursuant to the order of the Governor dated 11.12.2015, issued through the respondent no.4 – Director, Information and Publicity, Government of Goa and published in the Official Gazette of Government of Goa on 24.12.2015, the petitioner was appointed as the State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC for short) for the Goa State Information Commission. The said appointment was made in terms of Section 15(3) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act for short).

5. The petitioner entered the office as SCIC of the Goa State Information Commission with effect from 01.01.2016. According to the learned Senior Advocate for the petitioner, the terms and conditions of service were governed under Section 16(5) of the RTI Act. It is the contention of the learned Senior Advocate that in terms of Section 16(5)(a) of the RTI Act, the salaries and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of the SCIC shall be the same as that of an Election Commissioner. Under Section 3 of the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991 (Election Commission Act for short), the terms and conditions of service and the salaries payable to the Election Commissioner are the same as provided under The Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act, 1958 (Act of 1958 for short) and The Supreme Court Judges Rules, 1959. It is the submission of t