IMPORTANT POINT
Employees are entitled to financial upgradation under the MACP scheme based on their service length, regardless of subsequent restructuring of their positions.

JUDGMENT :

Shri Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.

Private respondents in these petitions had approached Central Administrative Tribunal, Allahabad, by filing two Original Applications, which were decided in their favour by separate judgments dated 07.04.2015. Challenging the said judgments, Union of India has filed these writ petitions in which, the orders passed by learned Tribunal rejecting the Review Application of Union of India are also challenged.

2. Since common questions of law and fact are involved in these petitions, therefore, they are being heard and decided together. However for the sake of brevity, facts of Writ Petition No. 320 (S/B) of 2015 alone are being considered and discussed.

3. Private respondents (169 persons) serving as Highly Skilled Workman in Opto Electronics Factory, Raipur, Dehradun approached Central Administrative Tribunal claiming Grade Pay of Rs. 4200/- on completion of 20 years of service, by filing Original Application No. 331/00023 of 2014 (Arvind Kumar Srivastava and 168 others vs. Union of India and others). The reliefs sought by them in their Original Applications are reproduced below:-

“8.1 This Hon’ble Tribunal may graciously be pleased to issue a writ order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned orders dated 01.12.2010, 13.12.2010 and 20.06.2011 (Annexure A-I, A-2 and A-3 to the OA) to the extent it treats the grade pay of Rs. 2800/- as promotion for the purpose of ACP/MACP.

8.2 This Hon’ble Tribunal may graciously be pleased to issue a writ order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to grant the IInd Financial up-gradation to the applicants in the pay scale of 5,000-8,000 revised 9,300-34,800 grade pay of Rs. 4,200/-, Pay Band-2 with effect from the completion of 20 years of their service with all consequential benefits.”

4. The said Original Application was heard and decided by learned Tribunal vide judgment dated 07.04.2015. The relevant paragraphs of the said judgment are reproduced below:-

“18. After a thorough examination of the pleadings and documents on record and written submissions and after due consideration of the case law cited on both sides, we find that the issue involved is that the applicants come under the purview of the MACP Scheme as they had not completed 24 years of service at the time of implementation of the MACP Scheme and hence, could not be covered under the erstwhile ACP Scheme. The Scheme mandates that the financial upgradation under the MACP is to be given in the next stage of hierarchy of the Grade Pay. In contrast the applicants are seeking the Grant of higher Pay Scales under the MACP Scheme and have made out a case to establish that the affect of the application of MACP Scheme as against the erstwhile ACP Scheme is working to their considerable financial detriment. It may not be possible to identify any infirmity as such, in the straight-forward interpretation of allowing financial upgradation as per the stipulated provisions of the MACP Scheme and according to the Grade Pay Structure recommended by the 6th Pay Commission. It is also a persuasive argument that such Government Schemes are meant to ameliorate the hardships of Government employees due to long standing stagnation in their Pay Scales and should not ultimately inflict pecuniary disadvantage. The minutes of various meetings held between the senior officials of DOP&T and representatives of the applicants and others also indicate to a recognization of the anomaly existing herein which has obviously constrained the respondents to refer the matter to the National Anomaly Committee as well. We also find considerable strength in the arguments that the transition of a skilled employee from H.S. Gr.-2 (Grade Pay of Rs.2400/-) to H.S. Gr.-I (Grade Pay of Rs.2800/-) does not follow any of the recognized procedures of promotion and is based entirely on vacancies arising in the category of H.S. Gr.-I from time to time. Hence, this transition cannot be considered as a pro