Point of Law: In exercise of power of judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the writ Court does not act as an appellate Court against the decisions of the Tribunals constituted under Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.
When discretion is exercised by duly constituted Administrative Tribunal, unless any perversity or glaring illegality is pointed out in the decision, this Court ordinarily should not interfere and upset the discretion exercised by the Tribunal.

ORDER :

P. Naveen Rao, J.

Heard Sri N. Rajeshwar Rao, learned Assistant Solicitor General, appearing for the petitioners in W.P.Nos.20304 and 22607 of 2005, Smt K. Mani Deepika, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner in W.P.No.8604 of 2005 and Sri CH. Ravinder, learned counsel appearing for the respondents in W.P.No.20304 & 8604 of 2005.

2. These three writ petitions are filed by the Union of India challenging the orders passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal in O.A.No.328 of 2003 dated 29.04.2004, O.A.No.778 of 2002 dated 22.07.2005 and O.A.No.782 of 2002 dated 22.07.2005, directing the respondents/ petitioners herein, not to affect recovery of the excess amount paid on account of wrong calculation of the allowances paid to the Extra Departmental (ED) Agents. As the issue in all the writ petitions is same, by this common order, they are considered and disposed of.

3. According to petitioners, Time Related Continuity Allowance (TRCA) to various categories of ED Agents were fixed on the basis of workload calculated on foot beat irrespective of the fact that the area is cycleable or non cycleable. On review of allowances and as recommended by the fourth Extra Departmental Committee, appointed for this purpose, payment of enhanced cycle allowance at Rs.20/- per month was granted with effect from 01.11.1986.

This enhancement was granted with an objective to speed up the conveyance work by using cycles. According to the assessment of petitioners, the time to cover 1 KM on foot beat is 12 minutes whereas on cycle it would be 6 minutes. Therefore, the workload calculated on cycle beat is 50% of the workload of foot beat. In view thereof, the allowances of ED Agents was reduced by 50% at the time of introducing the concept of calculating the work load on cycle beat despite payment of enhanced rate of cycle allowance. However, in order to ensure that there is no drop in emoluments and to protect the allowance fixed on foot beat, the cut off date of 01.11.1987 was prescribed. A decision was taken to determine the allowance to the ED Agents appointed on or after 01.11.1987, wherever cycleable track was available, at the rate of Rs.20/- per month on the cycle beat. As respondents were appointed prior to 01.11.1987, their allowances fixed on foot beat basis was protected and they were allowed to draw allowances fixed on foot beat basis.

4. The Fourth ED Committee was set up by the Government to review the service conditions/wage structure of ED Agents. As per the recommendations of the Committee, the remuneration payable to ED Agents was termed as TRCA. For the purpose of payment of arrears, the pre-TRCA basic allowance was multiplied by a factor of 3.25 and the difference of amount was paid as arrears for the period from 01.01.1996 to 28.02.1998 and the TRCA was given effect from 01.03.1998. Basing on the workload of Extra Departmental male Carriers /Messengers/Runners, two time scales were prescribed i.e., Rs.1220-20-1600 for workload up to 3 hours 45 minutes and Rs.1545-25-2020 for the workload above 3 hours 45 minutes. It was also decided to fix allowances of ED Agents at minimum of the TRCA. However, in case, the allowance arrived at by multiplying pre TRCA basic allowance by factor of 3.25 is above the minimum of TRCA, the difference would be protected as personal allowance to be adjusted against future entitlements.

5. The allowances of respondents were initially fixed at the minimum of the second TRCA at Rs.1545/- by taking the protected allowances into account. Further, pursuant to the orders of the Directorate dated 11.09.2002, vide letter dated 21.01.2003 the TRCA of the Grameena Dak Sevaks was refixed on the basis of actual workload as per cycle beat. This resulted in reduction in the basic allowance. As a consequence, decision was also taken to recover the excess amount paid by applying pre revised fixation of the allowance payable under TRCA.

6. The respondents and several others challenged the order of re-fixation and r