IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.16183 of 2010 Date of Decision: 19.01.2011 Jagjit Pal Singh ........Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others .......Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI Present: Mr. Kamaldip Singh Sidhu, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Puneet Gupta, Addl. A.G., Punjab for the respondents. ****** PERMOD KOHLI, J. (ORAL) The petitioner was enrolled in Brigade of the Guards (No.13670672-F) on 08.09.1973 as a Guardsman Clerk and during the period of second emergency, the petitioner was discharged on 23.06.1976. He was again enrolled in the Army Educational Corps as a paid Acting Havildar on 12.09.1977 under the same Army number. Petitioner was, however, discharged from the Army service on 31.12.1993. The petitioner was re-employed as Lecturer in English in Senior Secondary School, Machaki Kalan, District Faridkot and the petitioner was confirmed w.e.f. 24.05.2001. The petitioner thereafter came to be appointed as Head Master in the Punjab Government as direct recruitee on 01.12.2006 and was working as such, till the filing of this petition. The petitioner made representations for counting his Army service. It is stated that now the Punjab Government has issued notification dated 15.10.2009 (Annexure P-2) for grant of benefit of the 2nd National Emergency service CWP No.16183 of 2010 -2- from 03.12.1971 to 25.03.1977 to an Ex-Serviceman, who has been re-employed in the civil services. On this basis, the petitioner is now claiming the benefit of military service beyond the second National Emergency period i.e. from 03.12.1971 to 25.03.1977 towards seniority, increments, pension etc. A similar issue has been considered by this Court in Civil Writ Petition No.20061 of 2008, decided on 25.11.2009 titled as “Sukhdev Singh Versus State of Punjab and others” wherein it has been observed as under:- From the dictum of the aforesaid judgment, it appears that Rule 2 of 1965 Rules took into consideration any further operation of the proclamation of the emergency and, thus, subsequent emergency period from 1971 to 1977 also comes within the scope of the aforesaid rules. It appears that in implementation of the rules aforesaid, the State Government issued instructions dated 23.06.1998. Thus, the pay of the petitioner granting benefit of five increments for the Military Service rendered by him during the second spell of emergency was rightly fixed. The impugned communication Annexure P-3, P-4 and P-5 are in contravention to the rules. It appears that respondent No.5 while issuing letter Annexures P-4 and P-5, has ignored the aforesaid circumstances. As a matter of fact, the State Government has acted as a Post Office without application of any mind. In view of the totality of the facts and circumstances of the present case, present petition is allowed. The impugned order Annexures P-3, P-4 and P-5 are hereby quashed. The respondents are directed to grant the benefit of five increments in respect to the Military Service rendered by petitioner during two spells of emergencies. Recovery, if any, effected from the petitioner on account of deduction of excess payment with respect to increments, the same shall be refunded to him within a period of three months. Needless to say that the pensionary CWP No.16183 of 2010 -3- benefits including the DCRG shall also be re-fixed accordingly. No costs.” Mr. Gupta, Addl. A.G., Punjab submits that the claim of the petitioner shall be considered by the government in the light of the observations in the aforesaid judgment and in accordance with the law. In the light of observations in the aforementioned judgment and under the given circumstances, let the claim of the petitioner be considered for grant of benefit of the military service performed during the 2nd National Emergency for the purpose of increments, seniority and other service benefits in accordance with law. The entire exercise be completed within a period of four months and resultant benefits be released to the petitioner within one month thereafter. Disposed of. 19.01.2011 (PERMOD KOHLI) Gagan JUDGE