Case: State of Punjab and Another Vs. Dharam Pal

2. To appreciate the gravamen of the controversy, exposition of facts in brief is necessitous. The respondent was appointed as a clerk on 22.05.1970 and promoted to the post of Senior Assistant on 22.09.1980. He was given the officiating charge of the Superintendent Grade II vide order dated 09.12.2004 and thereafter, he was directed to function as Superintendent Grade I vide Government Order dated 26.05.2007. As the factual narration would reveal, he stood superannuated from service on 31.03.2008.3. Before the respondent attained the age of superannuation, he approached the High Court in a Writ Petition as he was not granted the benefit of the pay scale for the posts of Superintendent Grade II and Superintendent Grade I despite having performed the duties of officiating current duty basis regularly. He sought the relief for grant of pay, the arrears of pay and other consequential allowances and benefits with 18% interest. As stated earlier, the High Court placed reliance on the authority in Pritam Singh Dhaliwal (supra) and opined that the controversy is covered by the said decision and disposed of the writ petition in terms of the said judgment. Hence, the present appeal.

Reasoning:
7. In the beginning, it is seemly to state that there is no factual dispute with regard to the appointments or the posts. That being the position, we think it appropriate to refer to the orders of appointment as Ms. Babbar, learned counsel for theof Punjab, would harp on the same.Certain Notes have been appended to the said Rule but they are not relevant for adjudication of the present controversy. On a close scrutiny, it is noticeable that the said Rule postulates that the government employee appointed to an officiating post shall not draw pay higher than his substantive pay in respect of a permanent post unless the post in which he is appointed to officiate is one enumerated in the Schedule to the Rules and further the officiating appointment involves assumption of duties and responsibilities of greater importance than those attached to the post. It is not in dispute that the posts of Superintendent Grade II and Grade I are covered under the Schedule. Be it mentioned, the extension of benefit is subject to the provisions of Rules 4.22 and 4.24.On a careful scrutiny of the aforesaid prescription, it is perceptible that the said Rule envisages a different situation altogether. The present factual matrix is quite different. We are inclined to so hold as the respondent herein was holding higher posts and further he was performing the duties of higher responsibility attached to the posts. Thus analysed, we arrive at the conclusion that the Rules do not bolster the proposition advanced by the learned counsel for thea careful perusal of the said decision in its entirety, we are of the considered opinion that it is not an authority for the proposition canvassed by the learned counsel for the appellants. It remotely does not support the principle that is assiduously sought to be built by thehave no hesitation in opining that the principle that has been laid down in the said judgment has no applicability to the facts at hand.In the instant case, the Rules do not prohibit grant of pay scale. The decision of the High Court granting the benefit gets support from the principles laid down in Smt. P. Grover (supra) and Hari Om Sharma (supra). As far as the authority in A. Francis (supra) is concerned, we would like to observe that the said case has to rest on its own facts. We may clearly state that by an incorporation in the order or merely by giving an undertaking in all circumstances would not debar an employee to claim the benefits of the officiating position. We are disposed to think that the controversy is covered by the ratio laid down in Hari Om Sharma (supra) and resultantly we hold that the view expressed by the High Court is absolute impeccable.