CWP No.12381 of 1989 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. CWP No. 12381 of 1989 Date of decision 12 .5.2009 Ajit Singh and others ... Petitioners Versus State of Punjab and others ... Respondents. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M.M. KUMAR Present: None for the petitioner Ms. Sudeepti Sharma, DAG Punjab 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgement ? 2. To be referred to the Reporter or not ? 3. Whether the judgement should be reported in the Digest ? M.M.KUMAR, J. Through the instant petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution the prayer is made for issuance of a direction to the respondents to grant the Senior Scale and Selection grade to the petitioners consequent upon their having completed 8 and 18 years of service from the date of their initial appointment and to count the adhoc service rendered by them for all consequential benefits. Brief facts of the case may first be noticed. The petitioners are working as JBT Teachers, Punjabi/ Hindi, Science, Math, S.V., PTI and SS Masters/ Mistress in various Government Schools. They were initially appointed on adhoc basis and their services were regularised lateron. The dates of adhoc appointment of the petitioners as well as their dates of regularisation are mentioned in Annexure P.1. The State Government vide letter dated 23.7.1957 (P.2) revised the pay scales of low paid government CWP No.12381 of 1989 2 servants including the teachers w.e.f. 1.5.1957 whereby the Government decided that the teachers working in the Education Department would be entitled to the pay scales according to the qualifications possessed by them irrespective of the posts they are holding. Vide another circular dated 19.2.1979 (P.3), the State Government directed that the teachers working in Education Department who have improved their qualifications before the issuance of this letter be only allowed the benefit of higher scales of pay on the basis of their qualifications. Vide notification dated 17.2.1989 (P.4) the State Government revised the pay scales of different categories of teachers w.e.f. 1.1.1986. According to the notification dated 17.2.1989, the teachers have been granted the pay scale in the form of 3 grade structure. It is averred in the petition that on account of the notification dated 17.2.1989, the respondents have refused to fix the pay of the petitioners in the revised pay scales as admissible to them and have also been denied the benefit of senior scale and selection grade to which they are entitled after having completed 8/18 years of service. It is also averred in the petition that according to instructions dated 14.12.1981 (P.5), adhoc service is as good as regular service and there is hardly any difference in the experience gained by an employee while working on adhoc basis and on regular basis. In reply to para 8 A of the petition, the respondents have submitted that as per instructions dated 14.12.1981, the temporary service rendered by the Government employee is to be counted towards experience in the matter of promotion as well as at the time of initial recruitment only. I have heard the learned Counsel for the State and perusing the paper book with her able assistance. In the case of State of Haryana v. Haryana Veterinary and CWP No.12381 of 1989 3 AHTS Association (2000)8 SCC 4, a three -Judge Bench of Hon'ble the Supreme Court has held that the adhoc service rendered by the employee is not to be included for the purposes of calculating 8/18 years of service and only regular service is to be counted for the purpose. The said view has been followed by Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the case of State of Punjab and others v. Ishar Singh and others (2002) 10 SCC 674. In the present case the petitioners have claimed the relief of counting their whole ad hoc service from the date of their initial appointment. The instant petition is disposed of with the observation that for the purpose of calculating 8 or 18 years service for grant of proficiency step up scheme adhoc service rendered by the petitioners is not to be included. (M.M.Kumar) 12.5.2009 Judge okg