Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Represented By Its Chairman And Managing Director v. V. Srikumar S/O. K. Venkatesan

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 04.04.2025 CORAM :

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.S. RAMESH AND THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE N.SENTHILKUMAR W.P.No.11964 of 2025 and W.M.P.No.13521 of 2025

1. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Represented by its Chairman and Managing Director Headquarters Hl Mathur Lane, Janpath New Delhi 110 001.

2. The Assistant General Manager PERS I BSNL Corporate Office, BSNL Bhavan, 4th Floor Janpath, New Delhi

3. The Chief General Manager Chennai Telephones, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited 78 Purasavalkam High Road, Chennai

4. The Chief General Manager, Broadband Networks, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited CTS Compound, Netaji Nagar, New Delhi 110023

5. The Chief General Manager Tamil Nadu Circle, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, 16 Greams Road, Chennai 600006

6. The Chief General Manager, Southern Telecom Region, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, 11 Link Road Ganapathy Colony, Guindy, Chennai 600032

...Petitioners

Vs.

1. V. Srikumar S/o. K. Venkatesan 8 Kabaleeswarar Cross Street, Ganapathipuram Chrompet, Chennai 600 044.

2.V.Venkatesan S/ o Venkatakrishnan G4 Surya flats Old No 52 New No 80 Sadayappa Mudali Street Saidapet Chennai 3.R .Suresh Kumar Joshi, S /o SR Joshi Flat No 1 124 59 Saravana Perumal Street Purasawalkam Chennai 4.R .Raghavan , S /o K Ramaswami Plot No 12 Muthulakshmi Nagar Extn 2 Old No 2 New No 5 Pugazendi Street Chitlapakkam Chennai 5.U .Palani S/ o M. Urappan 28 Sekarvarma Nagar Arakkonam Road Tiruttani 6.K .N .Chandrasekaran S/ o N K Raman Nair New No 8 Old No 96 Krishna Nagar First Street Virugambakkam Chennai 7.S. Jayaraman S /o P N SubbaramaSarma 45 12 New No 89 12 Priyadarsini Apartments Bercah Road Nammalwarpet Chennai 8.P .Chandrasekar S /o G Pachaiyappan 6 Ramakrishnapuram First Street West Mambalam Chennai 9.K. Radhakrishnan S /o S Kuppusamy 9 B Vignesh Apartments Lenin Nagar II Cross Street Ambattur OT Chennai

10.V .Sudarsanam S /o N Vijayaraghavan Plot No 7 First Cross Street Nagappa Nagar Chromepet Chennai 11.V. Srinivasan S/ o Venkataraman Suchitra Nivas 29 Mahatma Gandhi Main Road Sankar Nagar Pammal Chennai ... Respondents Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for the issuance of Writ of Certiorari, calling for the records of the Hon'ble Central Administrative Tribunal Chennai Bench culminating with its order dated 27.06 2024 passed in O.A No. 649 of 2019 and quash the same.

For Petitioner : Mr.S. Gopinathan

ORDER

(Order of the Court was made by M.S.RAMESH, J.

) When the respondent herein had sought for stepping up of his pay on par with his juniors, with effect from the date of arising of the anomaly of the senior drawing lesser pay, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), through its order dated 27.06.2024 passed in O.A.No.649 of 2019, had placed reliance on an earlier order passed by CAT in a similar set of facts in O.A.No.1111 of 2015 dated 29.02.2024 and allowed the application with a direction to the petitioners herein to

step up the respondent's pay on par with his juniors with effect from the date on which the anomaly arose.

2. On perusal of the order impugned in this Writ Petition, it could be seen that in the order passed by CAT in O.A.No.1111 of 2015, reliance was placed in an another batch of cases in O.A.No.109 of 2011 etc. batch, wherein a similar relief was sought for before the Ernakulam Bench of CAT, which was allowed on 07.12.2011. It is recorded therein that the order of Ernakulam Bench was challenged before the Kerala High Court, as well as before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. A reference is also made to orders passed by CAT, Chennai Bench in O.A.Nos.379 of 2012 and 615 of 2012 on similar lines, which order was also confirmed by this Court in W.P.Nos.21831 & 21832 of 2015 dated 22.07.2015. The aforesaid order came to be confirmed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in S.L.P.(C).Nos.509 of 2016 and 771 of 2016 dated 03.10.2018.

Since the issues covered in all these matters referred to in the impugned order of CAT are similar in nature, we do not find any irregularity or other infirmity in the said order, since the Tribunal cannot take a different stand from its own orders passed earlier and which has reached its finality.

3. As such, the ground raised in this Writ Petition does not deserve consideration and accordingly, the Writ Petition stands dismissed. No costs. Connected miscellaneous petition is closed. [M.S.R., J] [N.S., J] 04.04.2025 Index: Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking order Internet: Yes/No Anu To The Central Administrative Tribunal, Chennai Bench

M.S.RAMESH, J.

and N.SENTHILKUMAR, J.

Anu W.P.No.11964 of 2025 and W.M.P.No.13521 of 2025 04.04.2025