Prior service benefits granted based on retrospective orders cannot be withdrawn by subsequent orders with prospective operation.

Judgment :

Muralee Krishna, J.

This original petition is filed, invoking the supervisory jurisdiction of this Court under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, by the State and its officials who are the respondents in O.A.No.163 of 2012 on the file of the Kerala Administrative Trib unal, Additional Bench at Ernakulam (the ‘Tribunal’ for short), challenging Ext.P7 order dated 13.03.2018 passed by the Tribunal in that original application.

2. The respondents - applicants filed O.A.No.163 of 2012 before the Tribunal, invoking the provisions under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, seeking the following reliefs;

“i) To call for records leading to Annexure-A6;

ii) Issue an order setting aside Annexure-A6 order and to declare that Annexure-A6 order is illegal, arbitrary and unsustainable in law;

iii) To declare that the applicants are entitled for protection of pay and for time bound higher grade, increments and all consequential service benefits including pension and DCRG, reckoning their provisional service as well as prior regular service in the Municipal Common Service.”

3. The respondents - applicants were provisionally appointed in the Health Service Department as Junior Health Inspector Grade II and were later appointed in the Municipal Common Service through Public Service Commission (‘PSC’ for short) in the very same post and were again obtained regular appointment in the Health Department on the basis of fresh advice and appointment. The different spells of their service in the Health Service Department and Municipal Common Service are as under:

4. When the respondents - applicants were joined the Health Service Department on regular appointment, their pay was protected, and they were granted first higher grade on completion of 10 years service by Annexures A1 to A3 orders dated 28.10.1997, 07.02.1998 and 16.02.1998, respectively. The 1strespondent was promoted as Health Inspector Grade-I on 15.12.2000, the 2ndrespondent was promoted as Junior Health Inspector Grade I on 09.06.1998 and as Health Inspector Grade II on 19.03.2007 and the 3rdrespondent was promoted as Junior Health Inspector Grade I on 14.05.1998 and as Health Inspector Grade II on 12.12.2000.

5. When the respondents submitted applications for 3^rd higher grade before the petitioners through the proper channel on completion of 23 years of service, the 1^st petitioner, by Annexure A6 order dated 08.12.2011, held that the pay protection granted to the respondents is wrong. Accordingly, the 1^st petitioner issued a direction to cancel the pay protection granted to the respondents and to effect consequential revision of pay revision benefits and time-bound higher grade benefits and to recover the excess amounts from the date of commencement of regular appointment in the Health Service Department by the respondents. In Annexure A6 order, the 1^st petitioner stated that there is no provision in the Kerala Service Rules to reckon provisional or regular service under the Governmen