Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 11: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has directed the authorities of the Education Department to consider the claim of the various in-charge ZEOs for salary attached to the post.
The case put forth by these in-charge ZEOs is that they were holding the posts of Head Masters on substantive basis but vide various orders passed from time to time by the authorities from the year 2002 to the year 2007, they were placed as in-charge Zonal Education Officers (ZEos) and are claiming that they are entitled to get salary commensurate to the posts on which they were working as stop gap arrangement till the dates of their respective superannuation.
The bench disposed of their case with the direction to the respondent-authorities to treat the legal notice as issued by their counsel as representation on their behalf and accordingly take a decision in the matter in accordance with the rules occupying the field, within a period of eight weeks time.
Since these employees were working as in-charge ZEOs till 2007 and approached the CAT in the year 2021 which is after a lapse of 11 years as such the plea of the applicants is hit with latches as the Tribunal, while exercising its jurisdiction, is definitely governed by Section 21 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985, which envisages that a grievance has to be brought before the Tribunal within a period of one year from the date of issuance of the order.
CAT however said that there is no bar to even entertain a petition beyond the limitation period as contained in the statute. Senior Advocate Altaf Haqani for applicants when confronted with the position of law as to why the applicants have not approached the Court within the stipulated period, in all fairness, he submitted that he has been representing before the respondents.
To substantiate the contention, he has drawn attention of the court to the legal notice dated 08-11-2021, having been served upon the Commissioner Secretary Education Department and according to him cause of the applicants being continuing, as such, the law of limitation would not apply in their case.
“Law is beaten that delay cannot be condoned unless a sufficient ground is projected. Shorn of the sufficient ground in the petition, same is definitely barred by limitation in terms of the Administrative Tribunal Act of 1985”, CAT said.
It has further been admitted by the CAT that the applicants have been receiving the charge allowance and under article 87(b) of the CSR, any person, placed on the higher post in his own pay grade on in-charge basis, has no right to seek release of grade pay before he is appointed to the said position in accordance with the rules.
The authorities while opposing the claim submitted in their reply that the applicants have retired from service while working on the posts of ZEOs in an in-charge capacity without having any substantive claim on the positions.
CAT was informed that no process of regularization was undertaken from the year 2012 – the year when in-charge ZEOs were regularized as ZEOs and the last Head Master to have been regularized was one Smt. Nirmala Koul.
According to officials the vacancies to the posts of ZEOs accrued after the retirement of the applicants, as such, there was no occasion to place their cases for regularization before the DPC or before the Selection Committee and they have been convening the DPCs from time to time in respect of different cadres of gazetted service as per set procedure but in view of the fact that the applicants had retired before the accrual of vacancies, the respondents cannot be said to have violated any of the instructions set forth by the General Administrative Department, particularly, contained in Government order No. 743 of 2007 dated 28-06-2007 and in absence of their confirmation on the posts of ZEOs, they are not entitled to what they are seeking.
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