The court established that seniority must be respected in pay fixation, and government orders mandating pay rectification should be implemented without regard to union differences.

ORDER :

J.SATHYA NARAYANA PRASAD, J.

This writ petition has been filed challenging the impugned order passed by the first respondent vide proceedings in Na.Ka.No.9855/C5/2020 dated 20.03.2020 and further directing the respondents herein to refix the pay of the petitioner in the higher post of BT Middle School Headmaster equal to the pay of his junior in the said post with effect from the date of drawal of higher pay by his junior in the said post and accordingly refix the pay of the petitioner in the post of Block Educational Officer after implementation of G.O.Ms.No.19, School Education Department, dated 07.02.2019 and G.O.Ms.No.20, School Education Department dated 07.02.2019 with effect from 07.02.2019 and grant all consequential monetary benefits with payment of arrears to the petitioner.

2. The Petitioner was initially appointed as Secondary Grade Assistant on 25.10.1988 and attained Selection Grade Scale of pay in the said post from 25.10.1998. Thereafter he acquired B.A. B.Ed qualification on 26.11.1999 and MA qualification by 25.10.2002. His pay was fixed as the pay of Primary School Headmaster on 01.10.2005 and was given Selection Grade Scale of Pay in the post of Primary School Headmaster with effect from 27.10.2008. Thereafter, he was promoted to the post of BT Assistant on 01.10.2009 and further promoted as Middle School Headmaster 02.06.2010. He was later deputed to the post of Block Educational Officer on 12.06.2018 and has been rendering service in the Education Department for more than 32 years.

3. The petitioner submitted a detailed representation dated 27.12.2019 to the first respondent for grant of equal pay on par with his junior Tmt.Dhanalakshmi and the same was rejected by the District Chief Educational Officer of Unified Vellore District in and by proceedings in Na.Ka.No.9855/C5/2020 dated 20.03.2020, on the ground that while the Petitioner was initially appointed as Secondary Grade Assistant in Pernambet Union and presently serving as Block Education Officer, Nemili Union, whereas Tmt.Dhanalakshmi was appointed as Secondary Grade Assistant at K.V.Kuppam Union and there is no provision in the Rules for a senior to claim equal pay on par with his junior if they belong to different unions as each Union is a separate unit in the Elementary Education Department. Aggrieved by the same, the Petitioner has come up with the present Writ Petition.

4. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that he was transferred to Gudiyatham Union from Pernambet Union in the year 1990 and his junior, Tmt.T.Dhanalakshmi came on transfer to Gudiyatham Union from K.V.Kuppam Union during the year 1991. Hence, it is not the case that he has been transferred to the union in which his junior Tmt.Dhanalakshmi was serving, and on the other hand, it was his junior Tmt. Dhanalakshmi who was transferred from a different Union to Gudiyatham Union, in which the Petitioner was already serving as Secondary Grade Assistant from the year 1990-1994.

5. It is submitted that in terms of the date of the initial appointment as Secondary Grade Assistant as well as the date of transfer to Gudiyatham Union, the Petitioner is senior to Tmt.Dhanalakshmi. More importantly, both Tmt.Dhanalakshmi and the Petitioner have been serving in the same Union from the year 1991 till the date on which the anomaly of junior drawing more pay than senior arose, i.e., on 01.10.2013. Even after the pay anomaly arose, both of them were serving in the same Union wherein she was drawing higher pay than the Petitioner till the date of promotion to the post of Block Educational Officer i.e., on 12.06.2018. Hence the reasoning assigned by the First Respondent that they were serving in different union and hence there is no provision for claiming equal pay on par with his junior is unsustainable in law and on facts.

6. It is further submitted that, though the Government has declared that the post of Block Educational Officer is a promotion to the post of Middle School H