CWP No. 8318 of 2010 (O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 8318 of 2010 (O&M) Decided on : 28-04-2011 Kiran Bala and another ....Petitioners VERSUS State of Haryana and another ....Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER Present:- Mr.Vivek Khatri , Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Harish Rathee, Sr. DAG, Haryana MAHESH GROVER, J The petitioners have prayed for quashing of the orders dated 23.4.2010 and 27.4.2010 (Annexures P-7 and P-8 respectively) vide which the benefit of step up of pay granted to them was withdrawn. The contours of the controversy as delineated from the facts are that the petitioners were senior to one Ramesh Kumar who belonged to the reserved category in the cadre of Clerk. By virtue of the application of the ratio of Ajit Singh Jasuja's case, he was promoted in the year 2002 as an Assistant on 25.12.2002 while the petitioner nos. 1 and 2 earned their promotion on 16.10.2006 and 12.5.2007 respectively. In accordance with the instructions (Annexure P-2) issued by the State of Haryana they were granted the step up of pay at par with said Ramesh Kumar which benefit now stands withdrawn by virtue of the impugned orders. The respondents justified their action on the ground that 85th CWP No. 8318 of 2010 (O&M) 2 Constitutional amendment made pursuant to the Ajit Singh Jasuja's case was made effective on 4.1.2002 by virtue of the Constitutional (85th) Amendment Act of 2009 resulting in the amendment of Article 16(4-A) of the Constitution entitling the persons belonging to the reserved category to accelerated seniority. The petitioners have appended the seniority list in the cadre of Clerks as Annexure P-1 which reflects them to be senior as they are shown at serial nos. 52 and 53 respectively whereas Ramesh Kumar's name appear at serial no. 57. There is no denial to the fact that said Ramesh Kumar get accelerated seniority and promotion as Assistant on account of 85th Amendment introduced pursuant to Ajit Singh Jasuja's case. The controversy only centres around the fact that whether the petitioner was entitled to the step up in the pay in order to obviate any discrimination amongst the members of the service who were senior in their original cadre but were deprived of the promotion on account of the accelerated benefit granted to the members of the reserved category on the strength of the Constitutional Amendment. The matter is no longer res integra. The Division Bench of this Court in CWP no. 5956 of 2008 titled as Charan Dass versus State of Haryana decided on 18.11.2008 has already concluded as under:- The petitioner is entitled to be stepped up in his scale of pay on the date of his promotion to the next higher post as Assistant on par with his junior Rameshwar who was promoted earlier and still later to the posts of Deputy Superintendents and Superintendents at the respective Levels 2, 3 & 4 from the dates when he assumed office at the promotion posts. The impugned order dated 04-02-2008 is set aside and CWP No. 8318 of 2010 (O&M) 3 the writ petition is allowed as prayed for.” The matter being squarely covered by the aforesaid judgment, the instant petition is disposed of in the same terms by observing that the impugned orders are unsustainable and the same are hereby quashed and it is directed that the petitioners deserve step up of pay which benefit was granted to them earlier but was wrongly withdrawn. April 28 , 2011 (Mahesh Grover) rekha Judge