HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH **** ****

SHRUTI JAIN & ORS. ... PETITIONERS VS.

STATE OF HARYANA & ORS. ... RESPONDENTS

1. Judgment reserved on 03.12.2025 2. Judgment pronounced on 20.02.2026 3. Judgment uploaded on 21.02.2026

4. Whether operative or full judgment Full 5. Delay in pronouncement of full judgment NA and reasons, if any CORAM: HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE SANDEEP MOUDGIL ****

Present: Ms. Shruti Jain Goyal, Advocate and Ms. Komal Klana, Advocate for the petitioners Mr. Amit Sahni, Addl. AG Haryana ****

Sandeep Moudgil, J.

Relief Sought (1). The jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, for issuing a writ of certiorari quashing the impugned letter dated 09.01.2018 (Annexure P7) issued by the Finance Department, Haryana to the extent of providing pay scale of Rs.128900/- for Deputy Advocate Generals and Rs.88400/- for Assistant Advocate Generals instead of Rs.140900/- and Rs.93800/-, respectively and for quashing the letter dated 06.02.2018 (Annexure P8), notice dated 23.12.2020 (Annexure P6) and letter dated 23.06.2021 (Annexure P11) issued by respondent No.2 ordering recovery of excess salary paid to them. A further direction is sought to direct the respondents to let the petitioners continue in the pay scale as per order dated 18.08.2018 (Annexure P5) and to grant fixed medical allowance, medical reimbursement, leave, earned leave and other benefits including increments w.e.f. January, 2019 instead of July, 2019, as has been granted to their other counterparts appointed prior to them.

Factual matrix (2). The State of Haryana enacted the Haryana Law Officers (Engagement) Act, 2016 (the "2016 Act") to regulate the transparent and objective engagement of Law Officers, including Deputy Advocate Generals (DAGs) and Assistant Advocate Generals (AAGs), in the Office of the Advocate General - respondent No.4. Section 9 of the 2016 Act provides that such engagements shall be purely on contract basis, for terms and entitlements including pay, benefits, privileges, and protocol, as determined by the State Government and specified in the terms and conditions of engagement. Pursuant to Section 15 of the Act, the State Government framed the Haryana Law Officers (Engagement) Rules, 2016, empowering a Selection Committee constituted under Section 5 of the 2016 Act to recommend appointments, with the State Government as the final appointing authority. Besides, the Advocate General was also empowered to engage up to five special advocates as such with prior approval.

(3). All the petitioners responded to Advertisement No. 2/10/2015- 5JJ-I dated 29.12.2017 (Annexure P1) issued by respondent No.2 and vide engagement letters dated 30.06.2018 (Annexures P2 & P3), petitioners No. 1 to 8 were appointed as DAGs whereas petitioners No. 9 to 17 were engaged as AAGs with respondent No.4 initially for one year but extendable on a year-to- year basis based on performance. Some petitioners were re-appointed, having previously served or been concurrently engaged in similar roles. These appointments aligned with Section 9 of the 2016 Act, emphasizing fixed terms without regular service status, and included duties such as providing legal advice, defending the State in courts/tribunals, and handling references under Article 143 of the Constitution.

Terms of Engagement (4). The engagement letters (Annexures P2 & P3) prescribed the following under the 6^th Central Pay Commission (CPC), plus Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA) and usual allowances as sanctioned by the Haryana Government:

 For DAGs - Revised pay scale of Rs. 37,400-67,000 +

Rs.10,000 Grade Pay (GP) + Rs. 2,500 NPA; initial entry- level pay of Rs. 43,390. Entitlements included leave for contractual employees and fixed medical allowance (no reimbursement).

 For AAGs - Revised pay scale of Rs. 15,600-39,100 +

Rs.8,000 GP + Rs. 2,000 NPA; initial entry-level pay of Rs.

28,000. Similar leave and medical terms applied.

(5). Subsequently, vi