Special Pay granted by Government order for employees of Tamil Nadu House, New Delhi must be included in pay for pension calculation.

PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, pleased to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records of the 1st respondent in G.O.Ms.No.409 Finance Department dated 24.12.2018 quash the same in so far as not granting 20% of Special Pay to the petitioner and consequently direct the respondents to Re-fix the pension of the petitioner with last drawn pay of the petitioner as Rs.55800 plus 20% of Special Pay notionally w.e.f. 01.01.2016 and grant monetary benefits from 01.10.2017 and grant all consequential terminal and other monetary benefits as entitled to her with interest at 18% per annum.

For Petitioner(s): Mr.C.Vigneswaran For Respondent(s): Mr.Azizulla Khan Government Advocate, for R1 & R3 Mr. S.Balaji, for R2

ORDER

The writ petition is filed praying for a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records of the 1st respondent in G.O.Ms.No.409 Finance Department dated 24.12.2018 quash the same in so far as not granting 20% of Special Pay to the petitioner and consequently direct the respondents to Re-fix the pension of the petitioner with last drawn pay of the petitioner as Rs.55800 plus 20% of Special Pay notionally w.e.f. 01.01.2016 and grant monetary benefits from 01.10.2017 and grant all consequential terminal and other monetary benefits as entitled to her with interest at 18%

per annum.

2. At the outset, it is submitted by the learned counsel for petitioner as well as for the respondents in unison that the issue relating to special pay for employees working in the Tamil Nadu House, New Delhi, is covered by G.O.Ms.No.409, Finance (Allowances) Department, dated 24.12.2018, and has been the subject matter of consideration before this Court in WP 1931 of

2023 that the issue stands covered in favour of the petitioner. It is also brought to the notice of this Court as a matter of fact that the petitioner’s name is also referred to in the said order. The relevant portion of the order is extracted hereunder:

“15. A perusal of G.O.Ms.No.304 dated 13.10.2017 would reveal that it is a sequel to G.O.Ms.No.303 dated 11.10.2017, and by virtue of G.O.Ms.No.304, the Special Pay granted to the eligible employees on percentage basis, has been halved. However, the Rules appended to G.O.Ms.No.303 would read that “the revised Pay Level for regular Government employees and employees on special time scales of pay / Consolidated Pay / Fixed Pay / Honorarium shall take notional effect from 1st January 2016 with monetary benefit from 1st October 2017”. In the instant case, the petitioner suffers a monetary loss. Therefore, if the monetary benefit were to give effect from 01.10.2017, then the monetary loss should commence only from 01.10.2017. It is seen that within a short period of passing the order in G.O.Ms.No.304, the Government has taken note of the letter given by the Prinicpal Resident Commissioner, Tamil Nadu House, New Delhi, requesting to revert the Special Pay granted to its employees, once again to 20%. Their request was acceded to as a special case, and the Government vide G.O.Ms.No.409 dated 24.12.2018, has decided to grant the Special Pay at the rate of 20% of the revised Basic Pay. It is relevant to extract paragraph Nos.2 and 3 of G.O.Ms.No.409, Finance [Allowances] Department, dated 24.12.2018 :

“2. The Principal Resident Commissioner, Tamil Nadu House, New Delhi in the reference second read above has stated that the employees of Tamil Nadu House, New Delhi were allowed to draw their Special Pay of 20% of basic pay in all the revised pay rules, as and when implemented the revised scales of pay. The work in Tamil Nadu House, New Delhi, is unique and special in nature and the place of work is very distant from Tamil Nadu. The cost of living in New Delhi is very high compared to Tamil Nadu, particularly rentals, schooling and food items. The extreme climatic conditions necessitate significa