CWP No.10703 of 2010 1 In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision: 28.05.2010 Khayali Ram ... Petitioner Versus State of Haryana and others ... Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI Present: Mr.PL Verma, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr.RS Kundu, Addl. AG, Haryana, for the respondents. PERMOD KOHLI, J. (Oral) The petitioner was initially appointed as Mali in the Municipal Committee, Gurgaon, on 21.04.1996 and was promoted as Octroi Clerk on 01.04.1994. In the year 1999 the Octori department was abolished. Surplus staff of the Municipal Committees were absorbed in various other departments/Boards/Corporations. The petitioner was absorbed in the Cooperative Department and joined that department on 07.01.2000. As per the policy of the respondents, the entire service rendered in the Municipal Committee was to be counted for all intents and purposes except the seniority. On attaining the age of superannuation the petitioner retired from service on 31.01.2008. The grievance of the petitioner is that he has not been granted the benefit of ACP which has been granted to other similarly situated employees. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length. CWP No.10703 of 2010 2 The issue raised in the writ petitions is no more res integra. A similar issue came up for consideration before Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the case of Employees of the Octroi Branch of the Municipal committee. On consideration of the issue, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of State of Haryana and another Vs. Deepak Sood and others, (Civil Appeal No.4446 of 2008) decided on 15.07.2008, made the following observations:- “Therefore, in the series of judgments given by this Court the view has been taken that in case of a transfer/absorption from one department to another or from public sector to State though the benefit of the seniority may be denied to the incumbent but not for any other benefits like pay fixation and for the pensionary benefits. Therefore, when the benefit of past service rendered in the parent department was given for fixation of pay and pensionary benefits, there is no reason why the past service should not be counted for grant of ACP Grade. Consequently, we are of the view that the view taken by the Division Bench of the High Court in the impugned judgment and order is correct and there is no ground to interfere in this appeal. Consequently, this appeal is dismissed but with no order as to CWP No.10703 of 2010 3 costs.” The aforesaid observations are squarely applicable to the facts of the present writ petition. In view of the above, the present writ petition is allowed and the respondents are directed to consider the period of service rendered by the petitioner in the Municipal Committee for all intents and purposes except the seniority. The claim of the petitioner for Assured Career Progression Schemes and other retiral benefits be determined and paid within a period of four months from the date a copy of this order is made available to the competent authority. No costs. 28.05.2010 (PERMOD KOHLI) BLS JUDGE