CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL HYDERABAD BENCH HYDERABAD, this the 3^rd day of March, 2025 Hon’ble Dr. Lata Baswaraj Patne, Judicial Member Hon’ble Mr. Varun Sindhu Kul Kaumudi, Administrative Member T Venkati, S/o. Tirupataiah, Aged about 56 years, Occ: Assistant Accounts Officer, O/o. Director of Accounts (Postal), A.P Circle, Dak Sadan, Abids, Hyderabad-1.

..... Applicant.

(By Advocate: Dr. A Raghu Kumar)

Vs.

1. The Union of India rep by its Secretary, Department of Posts, Dak Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi-1.

2. The Chief Postmaster General, Telangana Circle, Dak Sadan, Hyderabad - 1.

3. The Director of Accounts (Postal), A.P. Circle, Dak Sadan, Hyderabad -1.

... Respondents (By Advocate: Mrs. B Gayatri Varma, Sr. CGSC)

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ORAL ORDER

(As per Hon’ble Dr. Lata Baswaraj Patne, Judicial Member) By this Original Application, the applicant sought the following relief:

“This Hon'ble Tribunal may be pleased to call for the records pertaining to the 3rd respondent Lr.No.130/Admn-II/SA-IV/Pay dated 08.07.2016 clarifying to the extent that the applicant's request for stepping up of his pay on par with his juniors in the Senior Accountant cadre is not in accordance with the FR 22(C) and Lr.No.53/Admn-II/SA-IV/Pay dated 16.09.2016 rejecting the claim of the applicant for stepping up of his pay relying upon the provisions of FR 22 and ACP/MACP orders and quash and set aside the same as illegal, arbitrary, violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and settled principles of law on the subject matter and in against the principle of natural justice and consequently declare that the applicant is entitled for the stepping up of pay on par with his junior Sri Ch. Bhavanarayana and the benefit of the judgment of Hon'ble Principle Bench O.A.No.2124/2011 in the interest of justice and be pleased to pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case..”

2. The brief facts of the case, as stated by the applicant, are that he initially joined in the office of the Director of Accounts (Postal) on 14.04.1987 as Junior Accountant. He was further promoted as Senior Accountant on 31.08.1990 and as Assistant Accounts Officer on 30.11.2011. The applicant was given financial upgradation under MACP-II (Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme) on completion of 20 years of regular service on 01.09.2008. It is further submitted that Assured Career Progression Scheme (ACP) was introduced by the Govt. of India, on the basis of the recommendations of the VI Central Pay Commission vide the OM No.35034/1/97-Estt(D) dated 09.08.1999, which provided that the Government Servants stagnating without any regular promotion would be placed in the next hierarchical pay on completion of 12/24 years of service. The clause 8 of the Scheme provided as follows:

"The financial upgradation of the ACP Scheme shall be purely personal to the employees and shall have no relevance to his seniority position. As such there shall be no additional financial upgradation for the senior employee on the ground that the junior employee in the grade higher pay scale under the ACP Scheme."

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