C.W.P. No. 9868 of 2011 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. C.W.P. No. 9868 of 2011 Date of Decision : May 31, 2011 Amrit Garg .... PETITIONER Vs. Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. and another ..... RESPONDENTS CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH * * * Present : Mr. V.K.Shukla, Advocate, for the petitioner. * * * AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (ORAL) It is the contention of the petitioner that the petitioner was appointed as an Internal Auditor on 17.04.1997 with the respondent-Punjab State Electricity Board now Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. On completion of 9 years of service, the petitioner was entitled to and was granted 1st Time Bound Pay Scale as per the Policy dated 23.04.1990 of the respondent-Corporation vide order dated 29.08.2006 w.e.f. 17.04.2006. The petitioner was offered promotion to the post of Revenue Accountant vide order dated 13.07.2007. Due to domestic circumstances, the said C.W.P. No. 9868 of 2011 2 offer was foregone by the petitioner, which request of the petitioner was accepted by the competent authority on 18.09.2007. In the said order, in the light of the petitioner foregoing his promotion, he was debarred from consideration for promotion as Revenue Accountant for a period of three years from the date of passing of the order. To his surprise, vide order dated 18.09.2007, the benefit of 1st Time Bound Promotional Pay Scale, which was granted to the petitioner on completion of 9 years of service vide order dated 29.08.2006, was withdrawn. The said order was passed without issuing any show cause notice or granting the petitioner any opportunity of hearing, which is in violation of the principles of natural justice. In any case, that right, according to the petitioner, had accrued to him and he being entitled to the same, has rightly been given the said 1st Time Bound Promotional Pay Scale. Mere foregoing the promotion would not give the respondents a right to withdraw the benefit, which has been granted to him under the Scheme, which was formulated by the respondents themselves. Reliance has also been placed on the judgments passed by this Court in CWP No. 2587 of 2009 titled as Rattan Chand vs. Punjab State Electricity Board and others, decided on 12.08.2010 as also CWP No. 10174 of 2008 titled as Indira Rani vs. The Punjab State Electricity Board and others, decided on 12.10.2010, Annexures P-5 and P-6 respectively. According to these judgments, the petitioner contends that the case of the petitioner is fully covered and, therefore, the order of withdrawal of the benefit of 1st Time Bound Promotional Pay scale cannot be sustained. Counsel for the petitioner states that liberty may be granted to the petitioner to file a detailed representation to the respondents within a period of 10 days' from today relying on the judgments, which have been C.W.P. No. 9868 of 2011 3 referred to above, which the respondents may consider and decide within some specified time. If that be so, in the light of the statement made by the counsel for the petitioner and in view of the facts, as have been stated above, the present writ petition is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to file a detailed representation against the impugned order dated 18.09.2007 (Annexure P-4) within a period of 10 days from today. Let the said representation, if so submitted by the petitioner, be decided within a period of eight weeks of its receipt by the Chief Accounts Officer, Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd.-respondent No. 2. The order, so passed, be conveyed to the petitioner forthwith. In case, the claim of the petitioner is accepted, the consequential benefits be granted to him within a further period of four weeks. Copy of this order be given dasti to the counsel for the petitioner under signatures of the Court Secretary of this Court. (AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) May 31, 2011 JUDGE pj