The appointment to the post of Divisional Accountant cannot be held as a promotion for a person holding the post of Head Clerk.

Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, J.

1. By this common order, four cases viz. (1) CWP No.6943 of 1992 (2) CWP No.896 of 1994 (3) CWP No.3676 of 1994 and (4) CWP No. 10408 of 1997 shall be decided together.

2. Civil Writ Petition No.6943 of 1992 has been preferred by 49 employees of Punjab State Electricity Board (hereinafter referred to as, the Board), who at the time of filing of the petition, were posted as Divisional/Revenue Accountants. In this writ petition, they have prayed that they be paid salary in the pay-scale of Rs.2200- 4250 with effect from 1 st January, 1986 as was being paid to Assistant Engineers of the Board on the basis of equal pay for equal work.

3. Civil Writ Petition No.896 of 1994 has been instituted by six employees of the Board, who were promoted as Divisional Accountants from the post of Lower Division Clerk (LDC)/Upper Division Clerk (UDC). They have also renewed the same prayer that they should be paid salary equivalent to the salary drawn by Assistant Engineers/Sub DivisionalOfficers in the pay-scale of Rs.2200-4250 with effect from 1st January, 1986.

4. Civil Writ Petition No.3676 of 1994 has been filed by 25 Divisional/Revenue Accountants of the Board seeking the similar relief as has been sought in the above said two writ petitions.

5. During the pendency of the above said three writ petitions, another writ petition bearing Civil Writ Petition No. 10408 of 1997 was filed by three employees of the Board, with a prayer that order dated 11th June, 1997(Annexure P-9) be quashed as it had denied claim of the petitioners that they ought to be granted a pay-scale higher than that of Head Clerks, especially when the post of Divisional/Revenue Accountant is a promotional post and is higher than that of Head Clerk. It has been canvassed in the writ petition that the post of Head Clerk is a feeder-cadre-post for promotion to the post of Divisional/Revenue Accountant.

6. During the pendency of the above said writ petitions, the Board was. bifurcated into two separate entities. Therefore, an application was filed that in place of Punjab State Electricity Board, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited be substituted as respondents. Vide separate orders dated 19th July, 2010 and 4th August, 2010, these two Corporations were substituted as respondent No. 1 (a) and 1 (b).

7. During the course of arguments, the prayer that the petitioners be granted pay-scale equal to Assistant Engineers/Sub Divisional Engineers, has not been canvassed in the right earnest. The primary grievance projected by counsel for the petitioners is that once a person is promoted from the post of Head Clerk to that of Divisional Accountant and, therefore, the scale of Divisional Accountant cannot be lower than the post of Head Clerk. Promotional avenues envisage added responsibility, therefore the remuneration must be more than the post from which an employee is promoted. To appreciate the arguments raised, it will be necessary to cull-out the facts from the above said writ petitions. Civil Writ Petition No.6943 of 1992

Hem Raj Garg and others vs. Punjab State Electricity Board

8. it is pleaded in this writ petition that the petitioners were promoted to the post of Divisional/Revenue Accountants after they had qualified Supervisory Accounts Service (Part-I) Examination (hereinafter referred to as, SAS Examination). It is averred that the Board was having 80 Distribution Divisions, 25 Construction Divisions and 30 Protection, Transmission and Maintenance Divisions. Each Division was headed by an Executive Engineer. The accounts of each Division, receipt of revenue and disbursement of expenses were maintained and completed under the supervision of a Divisional/Revenue Accountant. It is stated that Rules 2.15 and 2.16 of the Punjab Departmental Financial Rules (hereinafter referred to as, the Rules) define the duties and functions of a Divisional Accounts Officer. The petitioners to justify th