Point of Law: power of the Government to make laws determining the service conditions of its employees or amend such laws cannot confer them the power to apply such laws differently to similarly situated persons.

JUDGMENT :

Mohammed Nias C.P. J.

The appeal by the State and its officials are directed against the judgment in W.P. (C) No. 15415 of 2020 which allowed the Writ Petition filed by the first respondent herein by directing the University to give approval for the promotion of the petitioner as Senior Lecturer with effect from 19-8-2000 and to grant all other consequential promotion and benefits to which the petitioner is eligible from time to time.

2. The brief facts necessary for the disposal of the appeal are as follows:

The first respondent/writ petitioner was initially selected as Junior Lecturer as per Ext. P3 order dated 17-8-1996 pursuant to which he joined on 19-8-1996. Petitioner contends that though he was appointed as Junior Lecturer, the notification for selection was for the post of Lecturer in Hindi. By Government Order dated 12-2-1996, a new cadre of teachers in the Collegiate Education Subordinate Service for teaching pre-degree courses in the State was created indicating the qualifications, method of appointment etc. the designation was “Junior Lecturer (Pre-Degree)”. Petitioner also claims to be fully qualified for the appointment of the post of Lecturer even from that time onwards. The petitioner, consequent to the de-linking of the pre-degree courses from the college as part of implementation of the Pre-degree (Abolition) Act 1997, was deployed to the St. Gregorious Higher Secondary School, Kottarakkara, under the same management as per Order dated 4-5-1998. The order deploying the petitioner, the relieving order and the order of the Director of Higher Secondary Education duly approving the same were marked as Exts. P4 to P7 in the Writ Petition. Years thereafter, on the arising of a vacancy, the petitioner was relieved from St. Gregorious Higher Secondary School, Kottarakkara and was redeployed as Assistant Professor in Hindi in the first respondent college from the forenoon of 1-7-2011 as per Ext. P11 order which the University has duly approved as per Ext. P12.

3. Petitioner submits that as per the UGC Scheme which had by then been implemented in the State, those teachers who completed six years of service are entitled to be promoted as “Senior Scale Lecturers” and according to him, since he is qualified, he is entitled to get promotion as Senior Scale Lecturer with effect from 19-8-2000, on completion of four years of service and also entitled to get a further promotion as Senior Selection Grade Lecturer with effect from 5-09-2005. The petitioner was promoted as Lecturer, Senior Scale with effect from 18-8-2000 vide order dated 7-12-2015. The petitioner submits that as per Clause 6.25 of the UGC Scheme dated 21-12-1999, Ext. P14, a Lecturer is eligible to be placed in Senior Scale if he has completed six years of service after a regular appointment and as per Clause 10 of the said Scheme, even part-time teachers will be entitled to the Career Advanced Scheme (for short “CAS”) from Lecturer to Senior Scale and Selection Grade Lecturer. He further relies on Ext. P15 a Government Order dated 1-6-2010 to contend that those teachers who were appointed in the pre-degree vacancies would also be eligible for placement under CAS. The petitioner also cites several instances of teachers similarly situated being granted the said benefit. The petitioner contends that he is discriminated which forced him to file W.P.C. 3367/2019 wherein the Government was directed to consider the matter adverting to the relevant Government Orders. No action was taken within the time granted by this Court which led to the filing of Contempt of Court Proceedings.

4. In the meantime, it is submitted that the earlier Government orders granting benefits to the similarly placed was cancelled as per Ext. P24. The petitioner's claim was rejected by Ext. P25 order dated 20-3-2020 holding that the conditions in the V and the VI UGC Scheme do not provide any provision to reckon the service rendered as Junior Lecturers for placement in the CAS. Writ Peti