1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY AT GOA Writ Petition No. 29 of 1999 Mr. J.M.R. Noronho, Workshop Superintendent, Government Polytechnic, Altinho, Panaji, Goa – 403 001. ... Petitioner V e r s u s 1. The Government of Goa, through the Chief Secretary to the Goa Government, having his office at Secretariat, Panaji, Goa. 2. The Director of Technical Education, Directorate of Technical Education, Alto Porvorim, Betim, Goa. ... Respondents Mr. M.S. Sonak, Advocate for the Petitioner. Mr. V. Rodrigues, Additional Government Advocate for the Respondents. Coram: S. B. DESHMUKH & F.M. REIS, JJ. Date: 25 th November, 2010. ORAL JUDGMENT (per S.B. Deshmukh, J): Heard learned Counsel, Mr. Sonak for the Petitioner and learned Additional Government Advocate, Mr. 2 Rodrigues for the Respondents. 2. The Writ Petition is sought for the following reliefs under Articles 14, 16 and 226 of the Constitution of India:- (a) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to pass an appropriate Writ of Mandamus, order or direction, calling for he records proceedings before the Respondent No. 1/Committee which was constituted pursuant to the judgment of this Hon'ble Court dated 25-03-1998 in Writ Petition No. 48/97 and after examining the legality, validity and the reasonability of the decision of the Committee be pleased to quash and set aside the same. (b) That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to grant an appropriate Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction, ordering and directing the Respondents herein to forthwith grant to the Petitioner, the benefit of revised A.I.C.T.E. Pay scale of Rs. 3700- 5700, instead of and in place of Rs. 2200-4000, with effect from the date, as granted to other similarly situated persons vide order dated 07-05-1994. 3 (c) That pending the hearing and final disposal of the present Writ Petition, this Hon'ble Court be pleased to order and direct the Respondents herein to pay to the Petitioner, the interim pay scale of Rs. 3700-5700, as revised by the All India Council for Technical Education (A.I.C.T.E.) in the case of Workshop Superintendent, the post which is held by the Petitioner. (d) Ad-interim relief be kindly granted, it terms of prayer (b) above. 3. Learned Counsel for the parties, have no dispute over the facts. This petition was filed on 25-01-1999. It has been pointed out by the learned Counsel for the Petitioner, that Petitioner had earlier filed Writ Petition No. 48/97. We have considered the grievance in Writ Petition No. 48/97. This petition was before this Court and after hearing the parties, this Court (Coram: N.J. Pandya & R.M.S. Khandeparkar, JJ.) passed an order on March 25, 1998 disposing of the Writ Petition. Copy of the judgment is on record at Exhibit-T, page 175. It has been pointed out by the learned Counsel Mr. Sonak 4 that in the earlier Writ Petition No. 48/1997, this Court had directed the committee to consider the grievance of the Petitioner. The Committee was specifically constituted by this Court in Writ Petition No. 48/1997. The committee consisted of the Secretary of the Education as Chairman and two members, i.e. Director of Technical Education and Under Secretary (Finance). It appears from the order that committee was directed to examine individual cases of the people employed in the Government Polytechnic, Panaji. 4. We have considered the grounds raised by the Petitioner in Writ Petition No. 48/1997. The State Government has issued Notification dated 31-12-1992 to implement A.I.C.T.E. recommendations with effect from 01-01-1986. The Petitioner, was not happy with the Members of the committee. This Court after hearing the parties and more specifically in para 6 directed the Chief Secretary of the State of Goa to nominate the other Member. In this background, this Court in Para 5 directed to constitute the committee which 5 shall be comprising of Secretary, Education as Chairman and two other Members i.e. Under Secretary (Finance) as one Member and the other Member to be selected by the Chief Secretary. Thus, this was the committee constituted by this Court in para 5 and this petition was disposed of. Further, it was directed that the committee, after hearing, the Petitioner, decision was to be taken within a period of three months. In view of this decision, the Writ Petition was disposed of. Accordingly committee was constituted by the State of Goa. The Petitioner of Writ Petition No. 48/1997, again filed Writ Petition No. 29/1999 before this Court and made a grievance that the said committee constituted by the State Government was not in accordance with this Court's order in Writ Petition No. 48/1997. The Petitioner specifically has made a grievance that one of the Members of the committee namely Mr. A.K. Bidkar had animosity against the Petitioner and the committee was being influenced by Mr. Bidkar. For this reason, the Petitioner again approached this Court in Writ Petition No. 29/1999. Writ Petition No. 29/1999, after hearing the parties, 6 was allowed by this Court by Order dated 12-01-2004. The Division Bench of this Court has considered the ground and accepted the grievance of the Petitioner. The State, being aggrieved by the order, passed in Writ Petition No. 29/1999, appealed to the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 4606/2009. The order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 4606/2009 is on record at page 266. It appears that the Hon'ble Supreme Court by order passed on 22-07-2009 set aside the order in Writ Petition No. 29/1999 and remanded back the matter to this Court for disposing in accordance with the law. 5. Over the years, Mr. Bidkar, against whom the Petitioner had grievance, stated to have been retired on superannuation. We have taken note of the fact that the ground of discrimination which was raised by the Petitioner is no more in existence. The learned Counsel for the Respondent, on instructions, states that the State Government shall re-constitute the committee. Mr. Sonak, learned Counsel for 7 the Petitioner states that there is no grievance, if now a fresh committee is constituted in view of the directions in Writ Petition No. 48/1997 passed by this Court. 6. In our opinion, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, committee can be directed to be constituted of the following members: (a) Secretary Education as the Chairman of the committee, (b) Under Secretary (Finance) and (c) Director of the Technical Education, shall be the other members of the committee. 7. This committee is directed after hearing the Petitioner, to take the decision within a period of three months. 8. Needless to mention, the committee shall hear the Petitioners grievance and decide the matter in accordance with provisions of law and on its own merits without being 8 influenced by the previous decision of the committee. 9. In view of the above, petition is allowed in above terms and disposed of. S. B. DESHMUKH, J. F. M. REIS, J. Ev