Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation & Others v. Sadhu Singh

The following Order of the Court was passed: ORDER 1. Leave granted. 2. This appeal arises from a judgment of a Single Judge of the Rajasthan High Court at the Jaipur Bench in SB Civil Second Appea l No 282 of 2017. 3. The respondent was appointed on the post of Conductor by the Regional Manager of the appellant at Bikaner. On 25 January 1992, the Finance Department of the Government of Rajasthan issued an Office Order in regard to the grant of the benefit of the first, second and third Selection Grades to employees on completing 9, 18 and 27 year s of service respectively. The Office Order of 25 January 1992 was made applicable to the appellant. On 4 January 2003, the respondent w as compulsorily retired from service. During the tenure of his service, the respondent was served with as many as 19 charge-sheets in pursuance of which he was subject to departmental penalties. 4. The respondent instituted a suit in 2010, nearly seven year s after his compulsory retirement seeking the benefit of Selection Grade on the completion of 9, 18 and 27 years of service. The Additional Civil Judge (Junior Division) decreed the suit partially on 26 March 2012 by directing that the respondent shall be entitled to the grant of Se lection Grade from 25 January 1992 on the completion of 9 years of service and the second Selection Grade pay scale from 7 January 2 002 on the completion of 18 years of service. The appeal against the judgment of RAJASTHAN STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION & OTHERS v. SADHU SINGH the trial Judge was dismissed by the First Appellate Court on 21 January 2017, and eventually, the High Court by its judgment dated 7 August 2018 dismissed the Second Appeal. 5. During the course of the hearing, two submissions have been urged by Dr Charu Mathur, learned counsel who appears on behalf of the appellant. Firstly, it has been submitted that the s uit which was instituted in 2010, nearly 7 years after the respondent ha d retired was barred by limitation. Secondly, it has been submitted that in order to avail of the benefit of the Selection Grade, the employee was requi red to have a clean record of service. In the present case, it has been stated that the respondent was served with as many as 19 charge-shee ts and penalties. A tabulated statement of the disciplinary penalties imposed on the respondent has been placed on the record and is extracted below: 1133 6. On the other hand, Ms Nidhi, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent submits that the trial Judge correctly held that the suit was instituted in 2010 after the representation of the respondent RAJASTHAN STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION & OTHERS v. SADHU SINGH was rejected and hence was within limitation. Moreover, it was sought to be urged that the order of compulsory retirement is not a penalty. Finally, learned counsel submitted that the department did not produce adequate evidence to establish all the charge-sheets and the disciplinary penalties against the respondent. 7. We shall at the outset deal with the issue of limitat ion. The respondent was retired compulsorily from service on 4 January 2003. Original Civil Suit No 41 of 2010 was instituted in 2010. The trial Judge as well as the first appellate court were of the view that the suit was not barred by limitation since the representation of the re spondent for the grant of the three Selection Grades was rejected on 18 Ja nuary 2010. The first appellate court, while concurring with the trial Judge also noted that the “final request” made by the respondent-plaintiff on 18 January 2010 was rejected and hence the suit was within limitation. 8. The respondent waited for seven long years after his retirement to pursue a claim for the grant of Selection Grade. This was clearly beyond the residuary period of limitation of three years provided in Article 137 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act 1963. That apart, in the decision of this Court in State of Rajasthan and Others vs Shankar Lal Parmar1, the Court has considered the ambit of the scheme for Selection Grade. This Court has held thus: “6. Another important and relevant clause in the said order for our perusal is Clause 7, which is also reproduced hereinbelow: “7. Selection Grades in terms of this order shall be granted only to those employees whose record of service is satisfactory. The record of service which makes one eligible for promotion on the basis of seniority shall be considered to be satisfactory for the purpose of grant of the Selection Grade.” 7. Clause 7 makes it clear that only those employees would be entitled for grant of Selection Grades, whose service record has been satisfactory and are otherwise eligible for promotion on the basis of seniority but have not been able to get the same as there might not be any channel of promotion or for want of sanctioned posts in the cadre.” 1 (2011) 14 SCC 235 1135 9. The Court held that in terms of Clause 7, only those employees whose service record has been satisfactory would be entitled to be granted Selection Grade. In this context, the Court held: “17. Clause 7 further makes it clear that only tho se/such employees would be entitled to be granted Selection Grade whose service record has been satisfactory. This implicitly shows that the person who has an untainted, unblemished, clean and unpolluted record in service would be treated on a higher pedestal than those who have either tainted, blemished, unclean or polluted record. This obviously appears to be a reasonable classification and is under the ambit and touchstone of Article 14 of the Constitution. There is neither any ambiguity nor any doubt in the same.” 10. On the touchstone of the above principles, it is evident that the respondent had been subjected to several disciplinary proceedin gs and as many as 19 charge-sheets were issued against him which resulted in penalties of a varying nature. The service record of the respondent cannot be regarded as untainted or clean. 11. Ms Nidhi, learned counsel for the respondent submitted that some of the penalties which were imposed on the respond ent were without cumulative effect. The consequence of the wit hholding of increments without cumulative effect is that after the period prescribed, the respondent would be entitled to restoration of the original pay scale or the original pay. However, this does not obviate the position that the imposition of the penalty itself indicates that the service record of the employee was not satisfactory. Another submission which has been urged is that the penalties were of a minor nature. Assuming that to be so, it is evident that for the grant of Selection Grade, the respondent did not fulfil the requirements of a clean record of service. The grant of the Selection Grade is not a matter of right and was subject to the terms and conditions which were stipulated. The respondent failed to fulfill these terms and conditions. 12. For the above reasons, we are of the view that both on th e question of limitation as well as on merits, the respondent was not entitled to the relief which was sought. The suit instituted by the respondent seven years after he had demitted office was barred by limitation. That apart, the respondent failed to meet the basic requir ements for the Selection Grade. RAJASTHAN STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION & OTHERS v. SADHU SINGH 13. We accordingly allow the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment and order of the High Court dated 7 August 2018. In consequence, the suit instituted by the respondent shall stand dismissed. 14. Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of. Bibhuti Bhushan Bose Appeal allowed. (Assisted by : Neha Sharma, LCRA)