Employees retiring on 30th June/31st December after one year service entitled to notional annual increment despite Rule 10 fixing date next day; for pension refixation, arrears limited to three years pre-filing.

ORDER

Per: RANJANA SHAHI, JUDICIAL MEMBER

At the request of learned counsels for the parties, OA No. 557/2023 and OA No. 633/2023 are taken up together for disposal as common question of law and facts is involved in both the aforesaid OAs.

2. For the sake of convenience, brief facts of OA No. 557/2023 are taken up. The OA No. 557/2023 has been filed by the applicants praying for the following reliefs: -

“I. By an appropriate order or direction, the respondent be directed to extend / accord the benefits of One Annual Grade Increment (AGI) as the applicants have completed one year service since last AGI was sanctioned on the date of retirement i.e. 30^th June / 31^st December, with all consequential benefits including revision of the last pay drawn and after making pay fixation accordingly, the retiral /pensionary benefits including Gratuity amount be ordered to be revised and arrears thereof be paid to the applicants with 9% interest from the date of retirement.

II. By an appropriate order or direction, the impugned orders / communications dated 01.09.2023, 15.09.2023, 17.08.2023 and other similar orders / communications (Annexure-A/1) may kindly be quashed and set aside.

III. Any other order, direction or relief may be passed in favor of the applicants, which may be deemed fit, just and proper under the facts and circumstances of the case.”

3. Brief facts of the case, as stated by the applicants are that the applicants herein retired from service on 30^th June / 31^st December in the respective years of their attaining the age of superannuation. They had outstanding service record. They have further stated that applicant No. 1 retired from service on 30.06.2021, applicant no. 2 retired from service on 30.06.2020, applicant no. 3 retired from service on 30.06.2019, applicant no. 4 retired from service on 30.06.2019, applicant no. 5 retired from service on 30.06.2019, applicant no. 6 retired from service on 30.06.2023, applicant no. 7 retired from service on 30.06.2022, applicant no. 8 retired from service on 30.06.2021 and applicant no. 9 retired from service on 31.12.2021. All the applicants are similarly situated being aggrieved by the common impugned action / impugned orders of the respondents in not extending the benefit of One Grade Increment.

4. The applicants state that after the sixth pay commission report, the Central Government fixed 1^st July and thereafter 1^st January as the date of increment for all employees, by making amendment in Rule 10 of Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008 due to which the applicants were denied the benefit of one grade increment on account of retirement on 30^th June / 31^st December i.e. one day before 1^st July / 1^st January although they had completed a full one year in the services as on 30^th June / 31^st December i.e. on the date of retirement, so they are eligible and entitled to get the benefit of one grade increment admissible on 1^st July / 1^st January.

5. The applicants state that the controversy involved in this O.A. is no more res-integra in as much as this Tribunal including Principal Bench, various Hon’ble High Courts and Hon’ble Supreme Court has finally settled the controversy holding that the employees, who retires from service on 30^th June / 31^st December are eligible and entitled to get the benefits of one grade increment. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of the Director (Admn. & HR) KPTCL & Ors. vs. C.P.Mundinamani & Ors. [(Civil Appeal No. 2471 of 2023 in SLP (C) No. 6185/2020)] after considering and examining the divergent views of the various Ho