Madhukar Limbajirao Bhange And Others v. The State Of Maharashtra And Others
(1)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.13848 OF 2021 1.
Madhukar Limbajirao Bhange Age : 63 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Near Priya Nagar, Satya Prabha Niwas, Jirge Nagar, Parli, Dist. Beed.
2.
Arvind Vitthal Marulkar Age : 65 years, occ : pensioner R/o Flat No. 21, Building No.1, Karan Palms, Near Aditya Garden City, Warje, Pune.
3.
Madhav Bhiva Dhole Age : 64 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Flat No.5, Building No.3, Ganesh Baug, Sinhgad Road, Off. Indian Hume Pipe Company, Manik Baug, Anand Nagar, Pune.
4.
Sharad Rajaram Waikar Age : 60 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Flat No.B-2, Kasliwal Vihar, Pratap Nagar, Aurangabad.
5.
Dnyandev Ganpati Khade Age : 59 years, occ : Pensioner R/o 175/2, Plot No.4, Mahalaxmi Colony, Panchgaon, Near Gajanan Hall, R.K. Nagar, Kolhapur.
6.
Shankar Kashinath Nighojkar Age : 62 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Survey No.1, Plot No. 89, 90, 91, 92, Wing B, Flat No. 203, Utsav Residency, Infront of Anant Rushi Maharaj School, Pune.
Taluka and District Pune
(2) 7.
Sunil Prabhakar Soundankar Age : 59 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Gurukrupa Colony, Anand Vihar, Bhistbag Road, Behind Jaindharma Sthanak, Savedi, Ahmednagar.
8.
Mohini Sumant Kulkarni Age : 61 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Madhu Malti, Near Civil Hospital, Overseer Colony, Sangli.
9.
Gajanan Natthuji Bandewar Age : 63 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Plot No. 53, Sainath Society, Wadgaon Road, Yavatmal.
10.
Prakash Narhar Thakare Age : 64 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Alankar Palmspring, Sawarkar Nagar, Gangapur Road, Nashik.
11.
Gulab Damodhar Jadhav Age : 62 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Vyankat Raman Row House No. 02, Dindori Road, Behind Akash Petrol Pump, Near Vitthal Mandir, Kalanagar, Nashik.
12.
Syed Yahiya Quadri Mehmood Quadri Age : 61 years, occ : Pensioner R/o 19/A, Mehboob Nagar, Near Aref Colony, Aurangabad.
13.
Keshav Ramrao Deshmukh Age : 65 years, occ : Pensioner R/o House No.7, Ring Road, Behind Mukund Kirana, Narhar Nagar, Post Taroda Khurd, Nanded.
Taluka and District Nanded.
(3) 14.
Satish Murlidhar Malvankar Age : 58 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Savarkar Road, Chirebandi Galli, A/P Akole, Taluka Akole, District Ahmednagar.
15.
Vishnu Sonaji Shevante Age : 64 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Rakshnagar Phase - 2 Society, 4/502, Kharadi By-Pass Road, Chandan Nagar, Pune.
16.
Bapu Shivram Shirude Age : 64 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Anusaya, Plot No. 85, Mohan Nagar, Near Vrundavan Gardan, Jalgaon.
17.
Babasaheb Pandurang Lavate Age : 62 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Pujarwadi, At Post Aatpadi, Taluka Aatpadi, District Sangli.
18.
Vasant Vishwanathrao Nirgude Age ; 72 years, occ : Pensioner R/o Plot No.7, Niranjan Co-Hsg.
Society, Tilak Nagar, Aurangabad.
Petitioners
Versus
1.
The State of Maharashtra Through it's Secretary, General Administration Dept.
Mantralaya, Mumbai.
2.
The State of Maharashtra Through its Secretary, Water Resources Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai.
3.
The State of Maharashtra Through it's Secretary Soil and Water Conservation Dept.
Mantralaya, Mumbai Respondents
(4) ...
Mr. S.B. Sontakke, Advocate for the petitioners. Smt. M.A. Deshpande, A.G.P. for the respondents. ...
CORAM : C.V. BHADANG AND SANDIPKUMAR C. MORE, JJ.
JUDGMENT RESERVED ON :
22 JUNE 2022 JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED ON :
4 JULY 2022 JUDGMENT (PER SANDIPKUMAR C. MORE, J.) :
Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. The learned A.G.P. waives service for the respondents. By consent of the parties, heard finally at the stage of admission. 2.
The petitioners, in the present petition, are claiming one notional increment for the purpose of pensionary benefits payable on 1 July of their respective last years of service. 3.
The petitioners belong to different posts, such as, Junior Engineer, Technical Assistant, Tracer, Junior Clerk and Peon in the Water Resources and Conservation Department, Mantralaya, Maharashtra and got retired from their respective services on 30 June of the years between 2007 and 2020 on
(5) attaining their respective age of superannuation. We would like to reproduce the chart showing details in respect of their appointments and dates of superannuation as annexed at ExhibitA, herein below : Sr.
No.
Name of the petitioners Initial date of appointment Date of superannuation 1.
Madhukar Limbajirao Bhange 24.06.1980 30.06.2016 2.
Arvind Vitthal Marulkar 25.07.1979 30.06.2014 3.
Mhadhav Bhiva Dhole 22.06.1978 30.06.2015 4.
Shankar Rajaram Waikar 08.10.1980 30.06.2019 5.
Dnyandeo Ganpati Khade 11.04.1983 30.06.2020 6.
Shankar Kashinath Nighojkar 07.07.1977 30.06.2019 7.
Sunil Prabhakar Soundankar 02.01.1982 30.06.2020 8.
Mohini Sumant Kulkarni 16.04.1979 30.06.2018 9.
Gajanan Natthuji Bandewar 09.05.1978 30.06.2016 10.
Prakash Narhar Thakare 15.01.1984 30.06.2015 11.
Gulab Damodhar Jadhav 12.05.1980 30.06.2017 12.
Syed Yahiya Quadri Mehmood Quadri 28.08.1979 30.06.2018 13.
Keshav Ramrao Deshmukh 04.10.1976 30.06.2014 14.
Satish Murlidhar Malvankar 21.05.1980 30.06.2019 15.
Vishnu Sonaji Shevante 28.08.1984 30.06.2015 16.
Bapu Shivram Shirude 05.09.1977 30.06.2015 17.
Babasaheb Pandurang Lavate 24.09.1979 30.06.2017 18.
Vasant Vishwanathrao Nirgude 30.06.2007 4.
For grant of such notional increment, which was due on the next day of the petitioners' respective retirement dates, they
(6) have relied upon the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Review Petition No. 1731 od 2019 in S.L.P. No. 22008 of 2018 in the case of Union of India and others vs. P. Ayyamperumal, dated 8 August 2019. In the said petition, the Hon'ble Apex Court has rejected the request of the Government and refused to interfere with the impugned judgment and order passed by the Madras High Court. The Madras High Court, under the said judgment dated 15 September 2017 in Writ Petition No. 15732 of 2017 in the case of P. Ayyamperumal vs. The Registrar, Central Administrative Tribunal and others, has made the following observations :
"5.
The petitioner retired as Additional Director General, Chennai on 30.06.2013 on attaining the age of superannuation. After the Sixth Pay Commission, the Central Government fixed 1st July as the date of increment for all employees by amending Rule 10 of the Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008. In view of the said amendment, the petitioner was denied the last increment, though he completed a full one year in service, ie., from 01.07.2012 to 30.06.2013. Hence, the petitioner filed the original application in O.A.No.310/00917/2015 before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Madras Bench, and the same was rejected on the ground that an incumbent is only entitled to increment on 1st July if he continued in service on that day.
6.
In the case on hand, the petitioner got retired on 30.06.2013. As per the Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008, the increment has to be given only on 01.07.2013, but he had been superannuated on 30.06.2013
(7) itself. The judgment referred to by the petitioner in State of Tamil Nadu, rep.by its Secretary to Government, Finance Department and others v. M.Balasubramaniam, reported in CDJ 2012 MHC 6525, was passed under similar circumstances on 20.09.2012, wherein this Court confirmed the order passed in W.P.No.8440 of 2011 allowing the writ petition filed by the employee, by observing that the employee had completed one full year of service from 01.04.2002 to 31.03.2003, which entitled him to the benefit of increment which accrued to him during that period.
7.
The petitioner herein had completed one full year service as on 30.06.2013, but the increment fell due on 01.07.2013, on which date he was not in service. In view of the above judgment of this Court, naturally he has to be treated as having completed one full year of service, though the date of increment falls on the next day of his retirement. Applying the said judgment to the present case, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned order passed by the first respondent-Tribunal dated 21.03.2017 is quashed. The petitioner shall be given one notional increment for the period from 01.07.2012 to 30.06.2013, as he has completed one full year of service, though his increment fell on 01.07.2013, for the purpose of pensionary benefits and not for any other purpose. No costs".
5.
The present petitioners have claimed similar relief in the present petition invoking Rule 10 of the Maharashtra Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2009 which is identical to the amended Rule 10 of the Central Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008, which has been discussed in the aforesaid judgment. Further, this Court under order dated 24 June 2021 in Writ Petition No.6396 of 2020 in the case of Prakash Tulshiram
(8) Chaudhari vs. State of Maharashtra and others, has also taken similar view as that of the view taken by the Madras High Court in the aforesaid judgment. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has also refused to interfere with the judgment of this Court. Thereafter also the Division Bench of this Court has taken similar view in the later judgment in the group of petitions bearing Writ Petition Nos.3028 of 2021 and others on 2 May 2022. In para 10 of the said judgment, this Court has observed as follows : "10.
Considering the dates of superannuation of these petitioners as being 30th June of the respective years, we hold that the increment payable to them on 1st July of the concerned year, after 2006, would be reckoned with for notionally calculating the pensionary benefits, which would have been payable to them from 1st July, but for their superannuation on 30th of June. This notional inclusion of the annual increment would be considered for calculating their pension, gratuity, earned leave, commutation benefits, etc".
6.
The present petitioners are similarly situated, and therefore, in view of the aforesaid observations, they are entitled for the notional increment due on next day of their respective retirement on 30 June, as they worked fully in their last year of service, and thus, became entitled for such notional increment on immediate next day i.e. 1 July. Therefore, we pass the following order.
(9)
ORDER
(i) Writ Petition is allowed in terms of prayer clause (B).
(ii) Rule made absolute in above terms.
SANDIPKUMAR C. MORE, J.
C.V. BHADANG J.
VD_Dhirde