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2019 Supreme(Jhk) 61
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
RATNAKER BHENGRA, J.
Lucy Jacinta Barla wife of Sri B. Lugun - Petitioner
Versus
The State of Jharkhand through Chief Secretary, Bhawan, Dhurwa, Ranchi and ors.- Respondents
L.P.A. No. 640 of 2017
Decided On : 17-01-2019
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner: Mr. Nand Kishore Pd. Sinha, Adv., Mr. Thakur Charan Singh, Adv.
For the Respondent: Mr. Ajit Kumar, Adv. General. Mr. Prashant Kumar Singh, G.P.-VI., Mr. Amit Kumar Verma, Adv.
Headnote:
Letter Patent Appeal – Pay Scale – Grant of Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) pay status, – Appeal is against the judgment of the learned First Court dismissing the appellant’s writ petition in which she made prayer for grant of Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) pay status, corresponding to pay scale of Rs.15600-39100/-. – It appears from the judgment under appeal that in course of hearing before the learned First Court, the appellant had also asked for additional pay in the form of officiating/ compensatory allowance. – Such plea was rejected on the ground that no prayer was made in the writ petition to that effect. – The appellant was working in the Audit Section of the Finance Department of the State of Jharkhand. – The appellant claims that in the year 2010 she had been authorized to work as Deputy Controller (Audit) In-charge. – She superannuated from her service – In course of her service, she was granted the benefit of the first and second ACP but her complaint is over the manner in which third MACP was granted to her. – Her objection is over the actual amount which was being paid to her. – According to her, this was less than what she was actually entitled to. – That is the point on which argument has been primarily addressed before us. – The appellant has relied on a tabular statement showing revised Pay Band and Grade Pay for sets of employees in the Audit Section of the Finance Department. This has been made Annexure-7 (at page 48) of the memorandum of appeal. – Court find from this tabular statement that against serial No.50, the post of Deputy Controller of Accounts has been specified. – This post, at the material point of time carried Pay Band of Rs.9300-34800/- with Grade Pay of Rs.4800/-. – The next superior post in that chart appears to be that of Controller of Accounts, which as per the revised pay structure carried the scale of Rs.15600-39100/- with Grade Pay of Rs.6600/-. – The post of Controller is promotional post from that of Deputy Controller of Accounts. – Held, It is apparent from this clause of the Resolution read with Annexure-I thereof that for computation of MACP, the Grade or Scale corresponding to the next promotional post in a particular Department is not the guiding criteria. – A beneficiary of an MACP would be entitled to next superior Pay Band/ Scale with corresponding Grade Pay as per Schedule-I to the said Resolution of the Finance Department published in the Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary) – This has been specified in clause 2 of Annexure-I to the Resolution of the Finance Department dealing with MACP scheme of State Government Employees. – Thus the appellant’s upgradation as per the MACP would be in S-15 which has the same scale of pay as S-14 but with higher corresponding Grade Pay of Rs.5400/-. – The sum as basic salary being paid to the appellant is in terms of Grade S-15. – Court do not find any error in the judgment of the learned First Court on this point. – As regards the appellant’s plea for compensatory allowance for having served as Controller In-charge, that issue did not form part of the writ petition. – Court give liberty to the appellant to make a representation for getting compensatory allowance for officiating in the promotional post of Controller. Such representation shall be made within a period of four weeks from date. – In the event the said representation is made within the aforesaid timeframe, the authorities shall examine as to whether she actually did officiate in the post of Controller or not and once it is found that she officiated in that post on the basis of appropriate official directive requiring her to officiate in that post, she shall be paid admissible compensatory allowance to that effect upon computation thereof within a period of 12 weeks from the date of making of such representation. – The appellant shall be given an opportunity of hearing while making computation provided she makes representation within the aforesaid timeframe of 4 weeks. – Court thus find no reason to disturb the basic finding of the learned First Court and accept the reasoning in the judgment under appeal. – The judgment under appeal however shall stand modified to the extent we have directed consideration of the appellant’s plea for compensatory allowance. – Appeal Disposed of
ANIRUDDHA BOSE, J.
1. Learned counsel for the appellant has filed a supplementary affidavit, which is kept on record. A copy of such affidavit has been served upon the learned counsel for the State today itself.
2. The appeal is against the judgment of the learned First Court dismissing the appellant’s writ petition in which she made prayer for grant of Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) pay status, corresponding to pay scale of Rs.15600-39100/-. It appears from the judgment under appeal that in course of hearing before the learned First Court, the appellant had also asked for additional pay in the form of officiating/ compensatory allowance. Such plea was rejected on the ground that no prayer was made in the writ petition to that effect. The appellant was working in the Audit Section of the Finance Department of the State of Jharkhand. The appellant claims that in the year 2010 she had been authorized to work as Deputy Controller (Audit) In-charge. She superannuated from her service on 30.06.2013. In course of her service, she was granted the benefit of the first and second ACP but her complaint is over the manner in which third MACP was granted to her. Her objection is over the actual amount which was being paid to her. According to her, this was less than what she was actually entitled to. That is the point on which argument has been primarily addressed before us. The appellant has relied on a tabular statement showing revised Pay Band and Grade Pay for sets of employees in the Audit Section of the Finance Department. This has been made Annexure-7 (at page 48) of the memorandum of appeal. We find from this tabular statement that against serial No.50, the post of Deputy Controller of Accounts has been specified. This post, at the material point of time carried Pay Band of Rs.9300-34800/- with Grade Pay of Rs.4800/-. The next superior post in that chart appears to be that of Controller of Accounts, which as per the revised pay structure carried the scale of Rs.15600-39100/- with Grade Pay of Rs.6600/-. The post of Controller is promotional post from that of Deputy Controller of Accounts.
3. The appellant’s basic salary on the basis of third MACP was computed treating her Pay Scale as per the revised pay structure to be Rs.9300-34800/- with corresponding Grade Pay of Rs.5400/-. Submission on behalf of the appellant, whose case has been argued by Mr. Sinha, learned counsel is that since in the administrative hierarchy of the Finance Department, the next superior post to that of Deputy Controller was that of Controller of Accounts and it was in that post the appellant had served in an officiating capacity, her MACP should have had corresponded to the pay scale to which Controller of Accounts is eligible. As per the revised pay scale, the post of Controller of Accounts comes against S-19 Grade with Pay Band-III.
4. The manner in which the Grade Pay and Scale are individually computed in respect of an employee has been explained to us by Mr. Ajit Kumar, learned Advocate General, assisted by Mr. Prashant Kumar Singh, G.P.-VI. Two Officers of the department, Mr. A.K. Bajpayee, Secretary, Department of Finance, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi and Mr. Nagendra Choudhary, Deputy Secretary, Department of Finance, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi instructed learned Advocate General in course of hearing today. As an example, Grade S-14 & S-15 have been referred to by the learned Advocate General. Revised Pay structure in respect of a post of Grade S-14 is Rs.9300-34800/- wherein corresponding Grade Pay is Rs.4800/-. For a post coming under Grade S-15, the Pay Band/ Scale is Rs.9300-34800/- with corresponding Grade Pay of Rs.5400/-. The revised pay Bands and Grade Pays for posts with which we are concerned in this appeal have been described in Schedule-I to a Resolution of the Finance Department published in the Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary) dated 28th February, 2009. A copy of the said Gazette was produced before u
