ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL
EXCISE
GAZETTED
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President: Address for
communication:
Secretary General:
A. Venkatesh 240, Razapur,
Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)
Ravi Malik
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty
(west); Ashish Vajpayee, Ravi Joshi (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan
(South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay
Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh,
Sanjay Srivastava (North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore,
Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central) Office Secretary: C. S. Sharma Treasuer:
N. R. Manda Organising Secretary: SoumenBhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide
letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 95/AIB/N/19
Dt. 09.05.19
To,
The Secretary, DOPT,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Bifurcation of Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/-.
Sir,
Kindly refer to the
letter Ref. No. 305/AIB/N/18 Dt. 20.11.18 of the Association.
2. Your
kind attention is also invited to the verdict given by the Hon’ble Apex Court
in SLP No. 77457/2017 in r/o the order Dt. 23.03.17 given by the Hon’ble High
Court of Delhi in WP No. 2634/2017 in which the Apex Court said,“Once the
question, in principle, has been settled, it is only appropriate on the part of
the Government of India to issue a circular so that it will save the time of
the court and the Administrative Departments apart from avoiding unnecessary
and avoidable expenditure.” The Hon’ble Court further directed the Government
of India to immediately look into the matter and issue appropriate orders so
that people need not unnecessarily travel either to the Tribunal or the High
Court or the Supreme Court.
3. Further, your
kind attention is also invited to the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in
P.K. & Ors. V. K. Kapoor & Anr. JT 2007 (12) 439, Inderpal Singh Yadav
& Ors., State of Maharashtra Vs. Tukaram Trymbak Choudhary by order dated
20.02.2007, Dt. 17.10.14 in the Civil Appeal No. 9849 of 2014 in the
matter of State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors Vs. Arvind Kumar Srivastava &
Ors etc. mandating to give the benefit of court verdict to all equally
placed persons. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the judgment Dt. 17.10.14 in
the Civil Appeal No. 9849 of 2014 in the matter of State of Uttar Pradesh &
Ors Vs. Arvind Kumar Srivastava & Ors held as under:
“Normal rule is that when a particular
set of employees is given relief by the Court, all other identically situated
persons need to be treated alike by extending that benefit. Not doing so would
amount to discrimination and would be violative of Article 14 of the
Constitution of India. This principle needs to be applied in service
matters more emphatically as the service jurisprudence evolved by this Court
from time to time postulates that all similarly situated persons should be
treated similarly. Therefore, the normal rule would be that merely because
other similarly situated persons did not approach the Court earlier, they are
not to be treated differently.”
4. Despite of the above
verdicts, the officers are forced to go to the CAT/High Court even in the same
matters which have already been finalized/settled by the Hon’ble High
Courts/Apex Court. The verdicts, in which no appeal has been made, are also not
being implemented. The benefit of the court verdicts in the settled issues is
being given only to the petitioners/applicants instead of implementing such
verdicts in rem.
5. Your kind attention is
also invited to the order Dt. 27.09.18 of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi
in W.P.(C) 11277/2016 taking serious note against the CBIC letters
like F. No. A-18013/3/2007-Ad.IV(A) Dt. 05.09.07 and F. No.
A-32022/26/2013/-Ad.IIIA Dt. 13.12.13. These letters say, “in cases where the
Court orders are adverse to the interest of the department/Government, such
orders should not be implemented without clearance of the Board”. The Hon’ble
High Court took strong exception to these letters and was prima facie of the
opinion that such letters invite contempt of Court. However, at the request of
the ASG, the Hon’ble Court refrained from passing further orders and offered an
opportunity to the CBIC to withdraw the letter. Thus, it is very clear
that any government department including nodal departments like DOPT &
Expenditure is never above the Hon’ble Court and it
is contemptuous not to follow the court orders. Thus, needless to
say that the issuance of any communication like letter Dt. 05.09.07 and
13.12.13 of CBIC (now withdrawn vide F. No. C-18012/3/2015-Ad.II B Dt. 12.10.18
of CBIC in compliance of the directions of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi)
amounts to be contempt of the legal court.
6. The DOPT OM issued vide
No. 28027/9/99-Estt.(A) Dt. 01.05.2000 also contains the contemptuous content
as was present in the above referred CBIC letters Dt. 05.09.07 and 13.12.13.
So, no need to say that the said letter of the DOPT or any other letter/s of
DOPT/any other department containing the contemptuous matter to the Hon’ble
courts is/are also required to be withdrawn.
7.
Further, your kind attention is invited to the verdict given in Balkrishnan
case (Writ Petition No. 11535/2014 with M.P. No. 1/2014) in r/o of treating single Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in
PB2 and PB3 as separate Grade Pays under para 8.1 of MACP Scheme. The Hon’ble Madras High Court in this case gave the
verdict on 16.10.14 by upholding that the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-2
(Level-9) & PB-3 (Level-10) is one and the same thing as there is no
difference between the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 and PB3. The Hon’ble High
Court was pleased to say specifically that the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400 in PB3 is
no way higher than the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 and next higher grade pay
after Rs. 5400/- is Rs. 6600/-. The said judgment was finalized by the Hon’ble
Apex Court in Special Leave to Appeal (C) 15396 of 2015 by dismissing the SLP filed by the Govt. establishing the
verdict as “the law of the land”. Thus, it is also worth to submit that the
next Grade Pay after Rs. 5400/- is Rs. 6600/- (Level-11).
8. It is also worth to submit
that any finally settled verdict becomes the law of the land particularly being
settled at the level of the Hon’ble Apex Court. Thus, the government is
supposed to issue the appropriate order as per the verdict given in SLP No.
77457/2017 without forcing every employee to approach the legal court as
mentioned under IInd para above and also in view of the third para above. If
every employee is forced to go to the legal court on an already decided issue,
no need to say that it would not only be the wastage of the precious time of
the courts but it would also be the wastage of the precious time and money of
the government and also inappropriate use of the manpower. If the officers are
not forced to go for unwarranted litigations, their hard earned money,
energy and time will be saved enabling their energy and time to be utilized in
a positive manner for Nation building. It would also save the huge litigation
cost being incurred by the Govt. on such legal cases.
9.
Further, your
kind attention is also invited to the verdict given in the Contempt Petition (C) No. 928 of 2016 on
26.04.19 by the Apex Court. The Apex Court has established the law in the said
order that any person aggrieved with the violation of general directions issued
in a judgement can file contempt petition. It is also reiterated that any direction/order is
said to be general until not specifically directed to be implemented in person.
10.
In view of the above, it is requested that the due circular may kindly be
issued-
i)
to withdraw para 8.1 of MACP Scheme to undo the bifurcation of the single Grade
Pay of Rs. 5400/-.
ii)
to withdraw the Level-9 by merging it with Level-10 of pay matrix.
iii)
to grant MACP upgradation to the Grade Pay of Rs. 6600/- (Level-11) after the
Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/ (whether in PB2 or PB3).
iv)
to withdraw the DOPT
OM issued vide No. 28027/9/99-Estt.(A) Dt. 01.05.2000 or any such
OM/letter/order/instruction/direction of the Govt. of India.
Otherwise it is
requested to consider this letter as a notice for contempt of the Hon’ble Apex
court and also of the High Court of Madras as per the legal advice given by the
legal expert.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
Copy with the request of necessary action
to:
1. The Cabinet Secretary, Govt. of India,
President House, New Delhi.
2. The Secretary, Department of Revenue,
North Block, New Delhi.
3. The Secretary, Department of
Expenditure, North Block, New Delhi.
4. The Chairman, CBIC, North Block, New
Delhi.
5. The Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, New
Delhi.