BASUDEV PATI A - v.

ST ATE OF ORISSA AND ANR.

' MARCH 3, 1997

[K. RAMASWAMY AND G.T. NANAVATI, JJ.] B

Service Law:

Protection i:Jf pa?Lecturer in U.G.C. pay scale-Selection to Orissa Administrative Service-Pay scales of Lecturer and Orissa Administrative c Service Class II being similar i.e. Rs. 525-1150--::Z, ater U.G.C. revised.scale of pay of Lecturer to Rs. 700-1600 with retrospective effect-Pay of appellant fv:ed at Rs. 780 as a 'lecturer-After his .selection to Orissa Administrative

Service appellant claiming protection of his last pay drawn and his upgraded fitment in the pay scale in Orissa Administrative Service-Held, claim not maintainable-The service as a Lecturer is entirely different from the service D of Orissa Administrative Service-Merely because appellant happened to work earlier as a Lecturer and in the same pay scale which was subsequently revised, he cannot be pennitted to have the benefit of U.G.C. scale in the

' Administrative Service and fitment in the pay scale 011 that basis.

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Special Leave Petition (C) E

No. 4084 of 1997.

' From the Judgment ahd Order dated 6.12.96 of the Orissa Administrative Tribunal, Cuttack in T.A. No1• 610 of 1987.

Janaranjan Das, K. N. Tripathy and D. Mohanty for the Petitioner.

The following Order of the Court was delivered :

This special leave petition is filed against the order of the Orissa Administrative Tribunal at Cuttack passed on December 6, 1996, in Trans- G fer Application No. 610/87.

Admittedly, the petitioner, while working as a Lecturer, had appeared in competitive examination and was selected to the Orissa Administrative Service. As Orissa Administrative Service, Class-II, his scale of pay was Rs. 525-1150. Earlier, also when he worked as Lecturer, the H 637

SUPREME COURT REPORTS

(1997] 2 S.C.R.

A scale of pay was Rs. 525-1150 which was subsequently revised by the University Grants Commission w.e.f April 1, 1974 to Rs. 700-1600. In that pay scale, his pay fixed at Rs. 780. He was paid arrears of salary with retrospective effect from 1.1.1974. After he was selected and appointed to the Orissa Administrative Service, he sought protection of his last drawn .B pay and his upgraded fitment in the pay scale in the Orissa Administrative Service. The Tribunal has rejected the claim. Thus this special leave petition.

Shri Janaranjan Das, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, contends that since the petitioner had been given the pay scale with c, etrospective effect from 1.1.1974, on his appointment to the Orissa Ade

niinistrative Service, his last drawn pay need to be protected. As per the instructions of the Accountant General, his pay is entitled to be fixed at Rs. 780 in the pay scale in the service of Orissa Administrative Service. We find no force in the contention. The service as a Lecturer is entirely different from the service of the Orissa Administrative Service. Merely D because he happened to work earlier as a Lecturer and in the same pay '

scale which was subsequently revised, he cannot be permitted to have the benefit of U.G.C. scale in the Administrative Service and fitment in the pay-scale on that basis. That would create imbalance and gross infraction and distortion and would result in flood of claims of similarly situated E person under Article 39( d} of the Constitution. Under these circumstances, such a course cannot be permitted to b~ adopted.

The special leave petition is dismissed accordingly.

R.P.

Petition dismissed.

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