G.O.Ms.No.152 extends service protection and pensionary benefits to employees absorbed from the Kadhi Board, and recovery of excess payments from lower-grade employees is impermissible.

JUDGMENT :

(Judgment of the Court was delivered by M.S.RAMESH, J.)

PRAYER :- Writ Appeals filed under Clause 15 of Letters patent against the order dated 19.09.2023 in WP(MD). Nos. 6813/2023 etc. batch.

Challenging the common order dated 19.09.2023 in WP(MD) Nos. 6813/2023 etc. batch, the appellants are before this Court with these appeals.

2. When the Tamil Nadu Kadhi Board was declared to be financially in-viable to run the unit, employees of the board were absorbed to other Government departments through G.O.Ms.No.154 Handloom, Handicraft, Textiles and Kadhi Department dated 21.11.2009. As per the said G.O., the employees, who have been absorbed to other departments, will be treated as new appointees with pay protection. However, the service protection was not extended to them.

3. The aforesaid G.O.Ms.No.154 came to be subsequently amended through G.O.Ms.No.152 Handloom, Handicraft, Textiles and Kadhi Department dated 12.07.2012, wherein, the service protection was also extended to these employees who were transferred from the Board apart from their pay protection. In addition, G.O.Ms.No.152 also gave credit to the service rendered by them in the Board, for the purpose of calculating the pensionary service period.

4. Thereafter, all the erstwhile employees of the Board were extended with selection grade of pay on completion of 10 years and special grade of pay on completion of 20 years of service, which service period included their earlier service rendered in the Board.

5. Through a letter dated 19.12.2017, the Secretary to Government, Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Kadhi Department, had permitted all the Heads of the Departments to treat the selection grade/special grade of pay granted to these employees as illegal and ordered for recovery of the excess payment made to them. The letter of the secretary dated 19.12.2017 was assailed before the learned Single Judge through writ petitions.

6. The learned Single Judge placed reliance on an earlier decision of the writ Court in WP (MD) No.4976/2020 relating to similar excessive staff of the Board, who were absorbed in the other Government Departments and whose award of selection grade/special grade of pay was cancelled and held that the cancellation of selection grade/special grade is illegal. The orders passed in those writ petitions are assailed in these intra Court appeals.

7. The only ground raised by the learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the appellants is that G.O.Ms.No.152 enables for inclusion of the service period of those employees with Kadhi Board, only for the limited purpose of calculating the pensionary services and not otherwise and therefore, the award of selection/special grade of pay was rightly declared to be illegal and the consequential recovery was ordered by the appellant and thereby sought for setting aside the orders of the writ Court.

8. We do not agree with such a submission, since G.O.Ms.No.152, which is an amendment to the earlier G.O.Ms.No.154, extends service protection simpliciter, as well as for inclusion of service period of any employee G.O.Ms.No.152 in this regard is self explanatory, which reads as follows:

9. When the employees of Kadhi Board were ordered to be absorbed in other Government departments, G.O.Ms.No.154 came to be passed with a specific clause that these employees will have the benefit of pay protection, but cannot be extended with service protection.

However, G.O.Ms.No.152 brought forth an amendment to G.O.Ms.No. 154, by incorporating service protection also, as evident in the aforesaid extract. The second portion of the Government order clarifies that the service rendered by these employees in the Kadhi Board should also be included for calculating the pensionary services. Thus, all the erstwhile employees of Kadhi Board were ultimately extended with pay protection, service protection and pensionary benefits by calculating their service period rendered at Kadhi Board. We are not in a position to give any other meanin