ORDER :

Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records of the 2nd and 3rd respondents issued in O.M. No. 3791/A3/2015 dated 07.08.2015 and in O.M. No. 407/A1/2015 dated 30.04.2015 respectively and quash the same and issue a consequential direction to the respondents to count the service rendered by the petitioner in the post of Secondary Grade Teacher at St. John De Britto Girls High School, Sathiyamangalam, Erode District for the period from 24.02.1998 to 21.07.2009 for the purpose of fixation of Selection Grade Scale of Pay in the post of Secondary Grade Teacher and issue a consequential direction to the respondents to fix the petitioner's pay at Selection Grade Secondary Grade Teacher at the initial stage of Rs. 15230+4300 GP in the scale of pay of Rs. 9300-34800 as on 22.07.2009 to the petitioner and to grant arrears of salary including increments.

1. Heard Mr. R. Saseetharan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. M. Shahjahan, learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the respondents.

2. The petitioner herein had originally joined as Secondary Grade Teacher in St. John De Britto Girls High School, Sathiyamangalam, Erode District on 24.02.1998, which school is an aided minority educational institution. On completion of 10 years of service, she was granted Selection Grade Scale of Pay on 24.02.2008. Thereafter, the petitioner was selected to the post of Secondary Grade Teacher in the Government Elementary School, Bhavanisagar on 15.07.2009. Hence, she had submitted her resignation to the aided school on 21.07.2009, which was accepted and she was also relieved from the services on the same day, for the purpose of joining the Government service. The petitioner's subsequent joining in the Government school was also duly recorded in the service register on 22.07.2009. When the petitioner had sought for re-fixation of her pay on Selection Grade Scale of Pay, the same came to be rejected on 30.04.2015 and 07.08.2015, stating that there were no Government Orders entitling the petitioner to seek for protection of including her services in the erstwhile aided school. Challenging these orders, the present writ petition has been filed.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner placed reliance on two Government Orders in G.O.Ms. No. 992, Education Department, dated 22.06.1979, as well as G.O.Ms. No. 1296, Department of Science and Technology, dated 19.06.1982, as well as the decisions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and this Court and submitted that in view of the proviso to Rule 23(1) of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, her resignation shall not entail forfeiture of past services, since she had properly resigned and was relieved from the aided school, for the purpose of joining the Government service.

4. Per contra, the learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the respondents placed reliance on the averments in the counter affidavit and submitted that once a person resigns from the post, he is ceased for any privileges in the new post. Since the petitioner herein has accepted to join in the new Government post, her past services cannot be counted, which is governed by the conditions of service in her appointment order.

5. The issue involved in the present writ petition is squarely covered by various decisions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, as well as this Court. As pointed out by the learned counsel for the petitioner, the Hon'ble Supreme Court, in the case of State of Rajasthan and Others vs. O.P. Gupta passed in Special Leave Petition (Diary) No. 27824 of 2020, had dealt with a similar provision under Rule 25 of the Rajasthan Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1996, which is para materia to Rule 23(1) of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules. In the said decision, it was held that when any employee resigns from a post with proper permission, for the purpose of taking up another appointment, the Government shall not entail for