C.W.P. No. 12132 of 2010 [ 1 ] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No. 12132 of 2010 Date of Decision: July 20,2011 Ram Dass ............................................... Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others ................... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Ms. Justice Ritu Bahri 1.To be referred to the Reporters or not? 2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Present: Mr. I.D.Singla, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Puneet Gupta, Addl. A.G. Punjab. ... RITU BAHRI, J. (Oral) This order shall dispose of C.W.P. Nos. 12078, 12157, 12117, 12132, 12133, 12164, 12168, 12207, 12262, 12355, 12359, 12363, 12477, 12480, 13307, 14596, 14605, 15549, 15569, 15598, 12365, 13222, 13288 and 15957 of 2010 as common question of law and facts arises in all these petitions. For the sake of convenience, facts have been extracted from C.W.P. No. 12132 of 2010. C.W.P. No. 12132 of 2010 [ 2 ] Petitioner joined as Constable on 19.10.1971 in the office of Superintendent of Police, Hoshiarpur. On 31.3.2007 he retired. The Punjab Government issued notification dated 25.9.1998 (Annexure P1) implementing the recommendations of the fourth Punjab Pay Commission. In order to remove the stagnancy in various cadres of the Government employees the Assured Career Progression Scheme was introduced whereby an employee who had got no promotion was entitled for a 2nd and 3rd ACP on rendering 8/16/24/32 years of satisfactory/good service. A clarification was issued by the Director General of Police vide letter dated 24.8.2000 (Annexure P3) that in terms of the notification dated 25.9.1998 the scheme of ACP will be applicable to the Constables on rendering 8/16/24 and 32 years of service. On 7.12.2001 instructions were issued to grant the ACP scales to employees whose overall record was good. Vide Annexure P5, after examining the record of the petitioner, ACP scale was given after completing 8/16 years of service. Subsequently, on 30.6.2004 pay of the petitioner was re-fixed and his pay was reduced with effect from 1.1.1996. Vide Annexure P-6 dated 30.6.2004 his pay was reduced from `7440/- to ` 7220/-. As per the ACP Scheme, petitioner has been rightly inducted in the ACP Scheme Scale of `3120-6200 vide Annexure P5. By re-fixation order, his pay has been re-fixed in pay scale of `3120-5160 with C.W.P. No. 12132 of 2010 [ 3 ] effect from 1.1.1996 vide order dated 30.6.2004 (P6). Petitioner's case is that he fulfils all the conditions as per notification dated 25.9.1998 and was entitled to the benefit of ACP granted earlier. In the similar circumstances, a Civil Writ Petition No. 8573 of 2008 was filed by one Constable Amar Nath in which his pay has been re-fixed after giving him ACP Scheme. The stand of the State was that as per the letter of Accountant General, Punjab, the pay has been re- fixed. On the other hand, the Accountant General, Punjab, has stated that there was no suggestion by their department to reduce and re-fix the pay of the petitioner. The order re- fixing the salary was set aside and petitioner was held entitled to the benefit of ACP. A direction was given to re-fix the salary of the petitioner and release the benefits within four months. The writ petition was allowed vide judgment dated 28.5.2009 (P7). Mr. Puneet Gupta, counsel for the State, has referred to the instructions dated 16.1.1998 and has argued that the pay has been rightly re-fixed as the amount on re- fixation was higher than the minimum of the revised scale, the excess amount of the revised personal pay was to be absorbed to future increments. It was to be referred as pay for all purposes. This argument of the counsel for the State carries no merit as objection raised by the Accountant General was C.W.P. No. 12132 of 2010 [ 4 ] to verify:- i) Consolidated No Due Certificate; ii)Certificate to the effect that no court case/departmental inquiry is pending; and iii)Service verification from 2006 to 2007 be updated. There was no observation by the Accountant General to re-fix the pay of the petitioner as per the reply filed by respondent No.3. The writ petition is allowed. Petitioner is held entitled to the benefit of ACP Scheme. Order dated 30.6.2004 (P6) is quashed. Since the petitioner has retired from service, all retiral benefits be re-fixed and be given to the petitioner within a period of four months of receipt of certified copy of judgment. 20.7.2011 ( RITU BAHRI ) Rupi JUDGE