E.Ganesan v. The State Of Tamilnadu
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 11.10.2023 CORAM :
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE R.SURESH KUMAR and THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE C.KUMARAPPAN 1.E.Ganesan 2.P.Hajamohideen 3.S.Chithiravelu 4.R.Natarajan 5.P.M.Subramaniyan 6.S.Adaikalasamy 7.A.Antonisamy 8.M.Vadivel 9.D.Kamalam (Family Pensioner) 10.D.Ramasamy 11.K.Palanisamy 12.G.Karunakaran 13.V.Santhanakrishnan 14.S.Krishnamurthy 15.L.Ramaiyan 16.K.Vanaja 17.K.Subbaiyan (Family Pensioner) 18.M.Rajangam 19.Saraswathi (Family Pensioner) 20.J.Chandra ...
Appellants -Vs1.The State of Tamil Nadu Rep.by its Secretary to Government Finance (Pay Cell) Department Secretariat, Chennai-9.
2.The State of Tamil Nadu Rep.by its Secretary to Government Education Department, Secretariat Chennai-600 009.
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3.The Director of School Education Higher Secondary, DPI Compound College Road, Chennai 600006.
4.The Chief Educational Officer Nagapattinam District, Nagapattinam.
5.The Chief Educational Officer Thiruvarur District, Thiruvarur.
6.The Chief Educational Officer Thanjavur District, Thanjavur.
...
Respondents Prayer : Writ Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the order in W.P.No.25118 of 2018 dated 20.03.2019.
For Appellants :
Mr.R.Singaravelan, Senior Counsel for M/s.M.Rajamani For Respondents :
Mr.K.V.Sajeev Kumar Special Government Pleader
J U D G M E N T
(Judgment of the Court was delivered by R.SURESH KUMAR, J.) This intra court appeal has been directed against the order passed by the writ Court dated 20.03.2019 made in W.P.No.25118 of 2018.
2. In fact along with the said writ petition, some more writ petitions were heard and a common order was passed by the Writ Court. 2/7
3. The issue before the Writ Court was that the benefit under G.O.Ms.No.216, Finance Department dated 22.03.1993 has to be extended to the writ petitioners also. When that issue came up for consideration before the learned Judge, the learned Judge has taken into account the earlier Full Bench judgment of this Court in Revision Application in R.A.No.227 of 2015 etc., batch in W.A.No.352 of 2014, where by an order dated 09.12.2016 a Full Bench of this Court has fixed a cut off date as 09.12.2016, that means, those who approached this Court and filed writ petitions on or before 09.12.2016 alone would be entitled to get the benefit under the Government Order referred to above and in this context, the writ petitions which have been filed and were in the SR stage also were taken into account. However, beyond 09.12.2016 if any one has come before this Court by filing writ petitions seeking the same benefit, such kind of writ petitions need not be entertained.
4. Taking clue from the said order passed by the Full Bench especially in Para 38(4) of the Full Bench judgment, which is reported in 2017(1) C.W.C.561 in the matter of Government of Tamil Nadu -vs- G.Eswaran dated 09.12.2016, the learned Judge has come to a conclusion that, since this writ petition was filed in the year 2018 and other writ petitions were filed in the year 2019, the petitioners in those writ petitions are not entitled to seek the benefit which has been extended to similarly placed persons, who approached this Court on or before 09.12.2016 and accordingly all those writ petitions were rejected through the impugned common order passed by the writ Court.
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5. Heard Mr.R.Singaravelan learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellants and Mr.K.V.Sajeev Kumar, learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the respondents.
6. It has been brought to our notice that, it is not the first time these appellants / petitioners approached this Court by filing writ petitions in the year 2018. In fact, they approached this Court well in advance ie., in the year 2015, in some cases 2014 as well as 2011. Twenty such writ petitions had been filed in the year 2015, 2014 and 2011. The writ petitioners in those writ petitions are the petitioners in the present writ petition and this factor in fact has been brought to the notice of the learned single Judge in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition in W.P.No.25118 of 2018.
7. However, this aspect has not been taken into account by the learned Judge and the learned Judge has proceeded as if that the petitioners in the present writ petition had approached this Court first time only in the year 2018, which is beyond the cut off date fixed by the Full Bench judgment of this Court ie., 09.12.2016 and therefore the benefit sought for has been denied.
8. However, factually the petitioners had already approached this Court in the year 2015, where substantial disposals were given through the second round of 4/7
litigation. Therefore, it can be treated as a continuous litigation, as the cause of action was also continuous in nature. It cannot be treated as those writ petitioners had come before this Court first time only in the year 2018 or 2019, as the case may be, ie., well after the cut off date of 09.12.2016.
9. In view of the said factual error, we feel that the order impugned passed in the writ petition has to be interfered with. Resultantly, this appeal is allowed. No costs. Consequently, the benefit that has already been extended by virtue of G.O.Ms.No.216 dated 22.03.1993 to all similarly placed persons like the writ petitioners / appellants shall be extended to the appellants herein in terms of the judgment of the Full Bench dated 09.12.2016. The needful as indicated above shall be undertaken by the respondents within a period of twelve (12) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
(R.S.K.,J..) (C.K.,J.) 11.10.2023 Index : Yes/No NCS : Yes/No KST 5/7
To 1.The Secretary to Government Finance (Pay Cell) Department Secretariat, Chennai-9.
2.The Secretary to Government Education Department, Secretariat Chennai-600 009.
3.The Director of School Education Higher Secondary, DPI Compound College Road, Chennai 600006.
4.The Chief Educational Officer Nagapattinam District, Nagapattinam.
5.The Chief Educational Officer Thiruvarur District, Thiruvarur.
6.The Chief Educational Officer Thanjavur District, Thanjavur.
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R.SURESH KUMAR, J.
and C.KUMARAPPAN, J.
KST W.A.No. 3272 of 2019 11.10.2023 7/7