Satish Kumar Vig And Others v. The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited And Others

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT

CHANDIGARH Date of decision: 05.11.2024 Satish Kumar Vig and others ....Petitioners

Versus

The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited and others ....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAMIT KUMAR

Present:

Mr. Abhishek Khullar, Advocate for the petitioners.

Mr. Tushaar Madaan, Advocate and Mr. Dildevinder Singh, Advocate for respondents No.1, 3 and 5 to 12.

Mr. Vikas Chatrath, Advocate with Ms. Tanya Sehgal, Advocate for respondents No.2 and 4.

NAMIT KUMAR J. (Oral) 1.

Reply on behalf of respondents No.1, 3 and 5 to 12, has been filed in the Court and the same is taken on record. Copy thereof has been supplied to learned counsel for the petitioners. 2.

The petitioners have filed the instant writ petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India seeking a writ of mandamus, directing the respondents to grant annual increment to the petitioners for service rendered by them for one complete year, immediately preceding, the date of their respective retirements.

3.

In the reply filed on behalf of respondents No.1, 3 and 5 to 12, it has been stated as under:- "3. That the petitioner No.1 and 3 are not eligible for release of annual increment and has concealed the facts from this Hon'ble Court. Further the tabular form of the last date of annual increment and date of retirement is as follows:- Sr.

Name of Petitioners Date of last annual increment Date of retirement One year completed or not Satish Kumar Vig 01.06.2005 31.10.2005 Not completed Subhash Chander Jaryal 01.11.2014 31.10.2015 Completed Jiwan Lal 01.12.2013 30.04.2014 Not completed Satnam Kaur 01.07.2017 30.06.2018 Completed Ashok Kumar 01.09.2017 31.08.2018 Completed Manjeet Singh 01.04.2018 31.03.2019 Completed

4. That the petitioner No.2 and 4 to 6 have been recommended and will be granted the annual increment as per law."

4.

Learned counsel for the parties are ad idem that the present writ petition is squarely covered by the judgment passed by this Court in CWP-32598-2019 titled as 'Gurdev Singh and others vs. State of Punjab and another' and other connected cases, decided on 16.03.2022, which has been upheld by the Division Bench of this Court in LPA-696-2022 titled as 'The State of Punjab and another Vs. Malagar Singh', decided on 09.04.2024 and the same has been generalised by the State Government vide letter dated 10.07.2024,

issued by the Finance Department, which has been adopted by the respondent - PSPCL vide Finance Circular No.24/2024 dated 11.07.2024.

5.

In view of the above, the instant writ petition is disposed of in the same terms as in CWP-32598-2019 with a direction to the respondent - PSPCL to consider the claim of the petitioners for grant of annual increment in terms the stand taken in the written statement, within a period of three months from today and necessary benefits to the eligible petitioners shall be released within a period of one month thereafter.

(NAMIT KUMAR) JUDGE 05.11.2024 yakub Whether speaking/reasoned:

Yes/No Whether reportable:

Yes/No