Durga Charan Das Vs The State Of Orissa

Published on: August 16,2021

Petitioner – Durga Charan Das

Respondent – The State Of Orissa

Decided on –7 May, 1963

Bench: R Narasimham, G Misra

Equivalent citations: AIR 1964 Ori 65

Statutes Referred:

The Constitution of India 1949

Facts:

  1. The petitioner joined as an assistant in the Old Bihar and Orissa Secretariat, prior to the formation of the Province of Orissa and when that Province was formed with effect from the 1st April 1936, he was transferred to the Orissa Secretariat, Home Department. Thereafter he was in due course promoted to higher posts such as Junior Head Assistant, and Senior Head Assistant.
  2. On 24th April 1954 while holding the post of Senior Head Assistant he was promoted temporarily as Registrar in the Supply Department of the Orissa Secretariat.
  3. On 22nd December 1954 he was reverted to his parent post as Head Assistant in the Home Department, and after taking leave he re-joined that post sometime in 1955.
  4. In June 1957 he was promoted to officiate as Assistant Secretary in the same Department and ultimately he was confirmed as Registrar in the Orissa Secretariat on the 14th October 1958. He eventually retired from Secretariat service on the 17th October 1959.
  5. The Government fixed his pension at Rs. 190.00 per month as he was confirmed as Registrar only with effect from the 14th October 1958 a year and a few days before the actual date of his retirement
  6. Thereupon the petitioner represented to Government that he should be deemed to have been confirmed as Registrar either from the 24th April. 1954 or, at any rate, from the 23rd August 1956 when one Sri J.N. Dutta, who was junior to the petitioner in the cadre of the old Bihar and Orissa Secretariat, was confirmed as Registrar in Bihar.
  7. Government, however, rejected this prayer, and hence he has sought relief from this Court, under Article 226 of the Constitution.

Issues:

Whether the petitioner has a right to be confirmed as a Registrar in the Secretariat with effect from the 24th April 1954?

Is he entitled to be confirmed as Registrar with effect from the 23rd August 1956 when his junior Shri J.N. Dutta was confirmed as Registrar in the Bihar Secretariat ?

Respondent’s contentions:

The learned Government Advocatecontended that the only conditions of service protected by the aforesaid Rule 6 were (1) pay (2) allowances (3) leave and (4) pension and that in respect of other conditions of service the State Government had full authority to make rules from time to time, even in regard to officers of the old Bihar and Orissa Cadre permanently transferred to Orissa.

The learned government advocate drew the court’s attention to the principles governing promotions from one post to another and the principles dealing with confirmation of an officer of the Secretariat in a permanent post, and urged that in all these matters the transferred officers cannot claim any special protection.

Judgement:

“It is admitted that Sri Dutta who was an officer of that type was confirmed as Registrar in Bihar from 23rd August, 1956. But the petitioner, after being duly recommended by the Public Service Commission, was allowed to officiate continuously as Registrar in the Supply Department of the Secretariat from 3rd February 1956. It must therefore be held that his work was held to be satisfactory by competent authorities. Moreover the very fact that he was allowed to officiate as Assistant Secretary for sometime shows that no adverse comment was made against his work as Registrar. Hence it may be reasonably held that considering the nature of work performed by the petitioner he would have been confirmed as Registrar in the Bihar Secretariat at the latest from the 23rd August 1956, if not earlier.”

“The petitioner referred to the case of one Sri Hrushikesh Beuria who had retired as Head Assistant of the Orissa Secretariat sometime in 1960. He was also an ex-Bihar and Orissa officer and Government, as a special case, fixed his pay as Registrar on a higher scale with retrospective effect from the 1st December 1948 (for nearly 12 years) solely because an Officer junior to him in the Bihar and Orissa cadre and serving in Bihar after separation of Orissa, namely Shri J.N. Prasad, was promoted to the rank of Registrar in the Bihar Secretariat. The learned Government Advocate tried to distinguish this case by saying that Sri Hrushikesh Beuria was given only the pay of the Registrar and was not ‘promoted’ to that post. But as already indicated, this circumstance will make no difference to the position so far as the present case is concerned where the petitioner’s pension is as much affected as his pay, by the fixation of the date of his confirmation at a later date.”

“The court said that it is true that, ordinarily the date of confirmation of an officer in a particular post depends on other factors such as the existence of a permanent vacancy, the claim of officers senior to him, etc. But where protection is conferred on a particular class of Officers by statutory rules these considerations do not have such importance.”

“The court further allows this application to the limited extent of directing the State Government to confirm the petitioner as Registrar in the Orissa Secretariat with effect from the 23rd of August 1956 and to re-fix his pension accordingly.”

Held:

The court held that the application is allowed and direct the state government to re-fix his pension accordingly and further held that the petitioner will also get the costs of this application

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