Maharashtra: Govt employees who retired day before date of increment get relief

Giving relief to over 60 state government employees who retired on June 30 mostly between 2015 and 2021 a day before their increment and were deprived of their annual increment starting July 1 as per the sixth pay commission the Bombay High Courtrsquos Aurangabad bench on February 16 passed an order directing the state chief secretary and principal secretary finance department to issue appropriate direction to all departments concerned to grant relief to such employeesLegal experts say that the order has made it clear that such issues need not reach the court as courts have continually expressed their concern and passed orders to this effectInterestingly this verdict comes at a time when contempt proceeding is pending before the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal MAT which had passed a similar order in favour of approximately 30 sales tax and public health officials who had retired on June 30 depriving them of the annual increment while calculating their annual retirement benefitsmidday had in an October 25 2022 article lsquoHealth department officials sales tax commissioner gets contempt noticersquo written about MAT had ordered them to ensure revised pension was paid to the litigants by October 4 which they failed to doAlso Read Mumbai Fedup of MahaRERA delays buyers plan stirThe caseIn the recent case the litigantsrsquo petition was that they are entitled to the benefit of increment which was payable and due on the very next day of their retirement As per the recommendations of the 6th pay commission to have uniformity every July 1 was fixed for the next increment for all state and Central government employeesIn all these petitions which were merged by the court the issue that has been raised is as regards the notional addition of an annual increment while computing their pension and pensionary benefits Such increments became due and payable one day after their superannuationCourt observationThe court observed ldquoThe petitioner has raised a very short issue before us His a petitionerrsquos retirement fell on June 30 2019 and had he retired on July 1 2019 he would have been entitled to annual increment as is provided under Rule 10 of the Central Civil Services Revised Pay Rules 2008 Considering this provision the Government of Maharashtra revised the Maharashtra Civil Services Revised Pay Rules 2009 and brought uniformity in the payment of annual increments vide section no 29 There is no dispute that the petitioner had worked up to June 30 2019 He has thus completed one year prior to his retirement He would be entitled to an annual increment but for the fact that the Rules prescribed that he would be entitled to such an increment if he worked on July 1 2019 when it became payable The issue raised in this petition has been squarely covered by the judgment delivered by the learned division bench of the Madras high court on September 15 2017 in the writ petition filed by P Ayyamperumal vs The Registrar Central Administrative Tribunal and othersrdquoThe orderIn their twentythreepage order Justices Sanjay Deshmukh and Ravindra Ghuge stated ldquoWe direct the chief secretary and principal secretary finance department of Maharashtra to issue appropriate directions to all departments concerned to appeal to such candidates who fall in such category having retired on June 30 of the particular years and who have earned the annual increment on account of performing work for 12 months ending on June 30 to tender their applications to the authorities concernedrdquoThe court further stated ldquoAfter such applications are received the authorities would grant the reliefs as are being granted by the various high courts by restricting the arrears of payments to three years preceding the dates of the applications or preceding the date of actual retirement as per actuals whichever is less With these guidelines the authorities shall not reject a single application if it fits into the parameters of the judgments delivered by this courtrdquoAdvocate speaksAdvocate Rajeshwar Panchal said ldquoI am glad that the honourable high court Aurangabad Bench has recently directed the state authorities to consider the representations or applications of all employees who retired on June 30 for a grant of annual increment falling on July 1 The court in its order has made it clear that such issues need not reach the court as time and again the courts have expressed their concern and have passed required orders to the said effectrdquoldquoIn fact I had expressed the same views when the MAT Mumbai had allowed cases filed by 26 employees through me for the same relief and as MAT order was not honoured by the departments concerned I have already filed a contempt proceeding against the errant government servants responsible and the matter is pending before MATrdquoHe added ldquoThe high courtrsquos judgment is in tune with the constitutional guarantee of equality and various judgments of the apex court to the effect that similar benefits should be extended to similarly situated persons without forcing them to come to the court However it is sad that authorities never follow such a principle and consequently every employee is forced to litigate in a court of law I hope that this judgment shall be taken seriously by the authorities concernedrdquo16Day in Feb when order was passed