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2026 Supreme(Online)(CAT) 3341
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
Rajinder Singh Dogra, Judicial Member, Ram Mohan Johri, Administrative Member
Chander Parkash Sharma – Appellant
Versus
State of Jammu and Kashmir – Respondent
Transfer Application No. 254/2025|SWP No.2954/2013
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Ms. Surinder Kour, Ms. Manpreet Kour
For the Respondents: Mr. Rajesh Thapa, Mr. Anil Khajuria
Retrospective deemed employee status entitles to post upgradation parity with similarly situated; later higher scales do not extinguish earlier status right impacting pension; delay no bar to continuing retiral wrong.
Headnote:(A) Service Law - Post upgradation - Employee transferred from government department to university, deemed employee retrospectively - Entitlement to upgradation benefit denied initially due to repatriation request, but retrospective deemed status from transfer date removes basis for exclusion - Discriminatory denial unsustainable when similarly situated employees granted benefit. Later higher pay scales do not extinguish earlier status right affecting pension. (Paras 9, 11, 13)
(B) Delay and laches - Not bar where grievance concerns continuing wrong on retiral benefits pursued through representations, culminating in speaking rejection order - Technical dismissal inappropriate for evident inequality in service parity. (Para 12)
(C) Administrative orders - Must show due application of mind to material facts; cryptic rejection avoiding core issues unsustainable. (Para 14)
Facts of the case:
Employee appointed Census Operator, promoted Research Assistant; research wing transferred to university; posts upgraded to Assistant Research Officer, but employee excluded due to repatriation request. Later permanently absorbed as deemed employee retrospectively from transfer date; representations rejected post-retirement citing no posts existed and matter closed.
Findings of Court:
Impugned rejection quashed; direct treating employee as upgraded w.e.f. upgradation date, re-fix service, pay notionally, rework retiral benefits and pension, release arrears within timelines.
Issues: Whether initial exclusion from upgradation justified post-retrospective deemed status; effect of later higher scales; applicability of delay; adequacy of rejection reasoning.
Ratio Decidendi: Retrospective permanent absorption as deemed employee effaces earlier exclusion ground; equality mandates same treatment as others in category; prior right to status/ designation not defeated by subsequent benefits absent substitution; continuing wrong on pension overrides delay.
Result: Transfer Application allowed.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. case background and applicant's relief claims. (Para 1 , 2) |
| 2. applicant's service history and upgradation claim. (Para 3) |
| 3. respondents' objections on delay and merits. (Para 4) |
| 4. summary of parties' positions. (Para 6 , 7 , 8) |
| 5. retrospective deemed status overrides prior exclusion. (Para 9 , 10) |
| 6. later pay scales do not substitute earlier designation rights. (Para 11) |
| 7. delay not bar for continuing retiral benefits wrong. (Para 12) |
| 8. discrimination violated by unequal upgradation treatment. (Para 13) |
| 9. impugned order lacks proper consideration. (Para 14) |
| 10. applicant entitled to retrospective upgradation. (Para 15 , 16) |
ORDER
Per: - Rajinder Singh Dogra, Judicial Member
1. The SWP No.2954/2013 was transferred from the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu and was registered as T.A No.254/2025 by the Registry of this Tribunal.
2. The present matter was filed before the Hon’ble High Court seeking following relief: -
I) to quash order No. AUJ/Est./C-9/13-14/1873 dated 11.06.2013 by which the respondents No. 3 & 4 have rejected the case of the petitioner for grant the benefit of upgradation of the post of Research Assistant to the post of Assistant Research Officer, by issuance of writ of Certiorari;
II) to issue directions to the respondents to upgrade the post of the petitioner from Research Assistant to Assistant Research Officer w.e.f. 30.11.1984 in compliance of the order No. 498 of 1984 dated 30.11.1984 when the post of Research Assistants were upgraded and to release all the benefit in favour of the petitioner on the post of Assistant Research Officer retrospectively, by issuance of writ of mandamus;
III) to issue directions to the respondents to give all the consequential benefit of upgradation of the post of Research Assistant to Assistant Research Officer with effect from the date it has been given to other similarly situated persons and to release all the arrears and also to fix and release the pension in favor of the petitioner on the upgraded post of Assistant Research Officer, by issuance of writ of mandamus;
IV) to declare the order No. AUJ/Est./C-9/13-14/1873 dated 11.06.2013 by which the respondents No. 3 & 4 have rejected the case of the petitioner for grant the benefit of upgradation of the post of Research Assistant to the post of Assistant Research Officer, as ultra virus, illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional, unjust and contrary to the provisions of law and Rules and against the provisions of principles of natural justice, by issuance of writ of mandamus;
OR
Any other writ, order or directions as the Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case may kindly be passed in favour of the petitioners and against the respondents. An affidavit in support of the writ petition is enclosed herewith.
3. The facts of the case as pleaded by the petitioner in his pleadings are as follows: -
a) The applicant, Chander Parkash Sharma, claims to be a permanent resident of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir. He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Sericulture and initially joined the Sericulture Department as a Census Operator on 07.02.1974. Thereafter, he was promoted and selected to the post of Research Assistant vide order dated 05.05.1980 in the pay scale of Rs. 340–700.
b) Subsequently, the Sericulture Research Wing of the Sericulture Development Department was transferred to the Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) vide SRO No. 381 of 1982 dated 18.09.1982 with effect from 01.11.1982. As a consequence, the employees working in that wing, including the applicant, came to be associated with the University. The applicant submits that the Board of Management of the University considered the issue relating to the status of Research Assistants and decided that those holding postgraduate qualifications in science or B.Sc. with Diploma in Sericulture could be considered for upgradation to the post of Assistant Research Officer. The biodat
