Prospective notification withdrawing NPA for recruits henceforth does not deny benefit to prior appointees granted joining extension on original terms without modification.

JUDGMENT :

Ajay Mohan Goel, J.

Rejoinder to the petition not filed. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that no rejoinder is intended to be filed.

2. Heard.

3. By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs:-

i) “Issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, quashing and setting aside the rejection order dated 17.06.2025 (Annexure P-6) whereby, the petitioner’s representation seeking NPA was arbitrarily declined on unjust and unsustainable grounds.
ii) Issue an appropriate writ, order, or direction directing the respondents to grant the benefit of Non-Practice Allowance (NPA) to the petitioner in accordance with her appointment order dated 29.09.2022, treating her at par with her similarly situated counterparts who were appointed under the same selection process and are being paid NPA.”

4. The factual matrix involved in this case is in a very narrow compass. The petitioner was appointed as a Veterinary Officer on contract basis upon the recommendation of the Departmental Selection Committee constituted for batch-wise recruitment vide notification dated 29.09.2022 (Annexure P-1). The appointment of Veterinary Officers was done on contract basis till further orders or renewal of contract after completion of one year whichever was earlier, on fixed emoluments of equal to 60% of first cell of level-18 (Rs.56,100-1,77,500) of the Pay Matrix i.e. (Rs.33,660/- + 20% NPA) per month, subject to verification of Character and Antecedents as per H.P. Financial Rules. The name of the petitioner is at serial No.23 in the said notification. As the petitioner was undergoing a Ph.D. programme, she sought an extension from the employer as far as the date of joining is concerned, which was duly granted to her and she joined her duties as a Veterinary Officer at Veterinary Hospital, Sayanj Bagra, District Mandi, H.P., on 05.07.2023. The joining of the petitioner was within the extended time granted to her by the employer to join the post.

5. After the issuance of notification dated 29.09.2022 and before the petitioner actually joined as a Veterinary Officer at Veterinary Hospital, Sayanj Bagra on 05.07.2023, the Finance Department of the respondent-State issued a notification dated 24.05.2023 (Annexure P-3) which reads as under:-

“No.Fin-(C)B(7)-3/2021-1 Dated Shimla-2, 24th May, 2023.
NOTIFICATION
In partial modification of the department’s notifications Nos. Fin-(C)B(7)-3/2021 dated 3rd January, 2022 and No.Fin-(C)B(7)-3/2021-I dated 2nd March, 2022, the Governor, Himachal Pradesh is pleased to order that the Non Practicing Allowance (NPA) will not be admissible for all Doctors recruited henceforth in Health & Family Welfare, Medical Education, Dental, Ayush and Animal Husbandry Departments of the State Government.”

6. In light of this notification after the petitioner joined her duties, she has not been paid the Non-Practicing Allowance and, feeling aggrieved, the petitioner has approached this Court.

7. Learned counsel for the petitioner argued that the denial of the Non-Practicing Allowance is not sustainable in the eyes of law for the reason that notification dated 24.05.2023 could not have been applied by the Department retrospectively in the case of the petitioner as the appointment of the petitioner was before the issuance of notification dated 24.05.2023. Learned counsel submitted that simply because the petitioner joined after the issuance of notification dated 24.05.2023, the same did not render the petitioner ineligible to receive Non- Practicing Allowance for the reason that the terms and conditions of her appoi