Court of Civil Judge (Junior Division), Gurgaon: In a suit filed for declaration seeking his entitlement to the benefit of 3rd ACP on the date of completion of 30 years of service and re-fixation of his pay accordingly, Vikrant, J., held that the plaintiff is entitled to benefits of 3rd ACP on completion of 30 years of service counting from the date of his appointment and re-fixation of his pay accordingly.
It is the case of the plaintiff that he, Hoshiar Singh, joined the Transport Department, Government of Haryana on 01-07-1975 as a Conductor. He retired from the services on 30-04-2006 after attaining the age of superannuation. He was given the benefits of two ACPs as per the rules, but the benefit of 3rd ACP was not granted to him which fell due in the year 2005, after the completion of 30 years of satisfactory service. As a result, his pension is lower than the other employees who were junior to him.
The plaintiff made several requests to the defendants to grant him benefit of 3rd ACP on completion of 30 years of regular and satisfactory service, but his request was not considered. Aggrieved by this, the present suit was filed for declaration that he is entitled to benefit of 3rd ACP on the date of completion of 30 years of service and re-fixation of his pay accordingly.
Counsel for the defendants submitted that the claim of the plaintiff which is made after a delay of 13 years is hopelessly barred by limitation and he is not entitled to the benefit of 3rd ACP and re-fixation of his pay.
The Court noted that the plea of the defendants is not convincing because no one can take benefit of their own wrong. It was the duty and legal responsibility of the defendants to issue all benefits to their employees and officials without making any claim to the effect. The defendants cannot be allowed to first withheld the benefits and then expect the officials to pursue their lawful claim separately.
The Court further noted that the plaintiff is getting a pension from the defendants after retirement, therefore, he has a continuous cause of action for making a claim of the benefit of enhanced pension in accordance with the re-fixation of his pay after the grant of 3rd ACP. The suit is not barred by limitation.
Thus, the Court directed the defendants to release the benefits to the plaintiff within a period of 3 months, failing which the defendants shall pay simple interest @ 9% per annum on the amount due from the date of filing the suit.
[Hoshiyar Singh v. State of Haryana, 2023 SCC OnLine Dis Crt (Haryana) 1, decided on 09-01-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Sh. Manish Verma, Advocate, for the Plaintiff;
Sh. Ravinder Singh, Clerk, Haryana Roadways, Gurugram assisted by Sh. Himanshu Yadav, Govt. Pleader for the Defendants.
*Arunima Bose, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.
