High Court Allows Writ Petition Challenging Education Officer's Order Restricting Salary Grant - Petitioner Secures Direction for Salary Aid from Appointment Date Despite Indemnity Bond

Nature of Litigation: Writ Petition challenging administrative order restricting salary grant

Remedy Sought

Petitioner sought direction to Education Officer to provide salary grant from date of appointment rather than from date of approval

Filing Reason

Education Officer's Order dated 28th December 2018 approved appointment from date of appointment but restricted salary grant only from approval date

Previous Decisions

Education Officer granted approval to Petitioner's appointment as Shikshan Sevak on 28th December 2018, approved appointment as Assistant Teacher on 29th May 2019

Issues

Whether the Education Officer could validly grant approval to the Petitioner's appointment from the date of appointment while restricting the salary grant only from the date of approval Whether the indemnity bond executed by the school management could justify the exclusion of salary grant for the period between appointment and approval

Submissions/Arguments

Petitioner argued that once approval was granted from appointment date, excluding salary grant for intervening period was impermissible Respondents argued that indemnity bond executed by school management obligated them to pay salary till approval date and granting salary grant from appointment date would cause loss to public exchequer School management supported Petitioner, arguing indemnity bond was executed under duress and served no purpose once approval was granted

Ratio Decidendi

Once approval is granted to an appointment from the date of appointment, the salary grant must also be provided from that same date; an indemnity bond executed by the school management cannot override this principle when the appointment has been duly approved

Judgment Excerpts

The challenge in the present Petition is to the Order dated 28th December 2018 issued by the Respondent No.5-the Education Officer, whereby despite granting approval to the Petitioner's appointment from the date of appointment, grant-in-aid is ordered only from the date of approval It is absolutely not disputed that the Petitioner was appointed on the subject post after following due process of law Once the Education Officer has approved Petitioner's services from the date of his appointment, the exclusion of certain period i.e. from the date of appointment till date of approval for grant-in-aid is not at all permissible nor could be justified

Procedural History

Petitioner appointed as Shikshan Sevak on 5th July 2012 -- School management moved proposal for approval -- Education Officer granted approval on 28th December 2018 with conditions restricting salary grant -- Petitioner confirmed as Assistant Teacher on 29th May 2019 -- Petitioner filed Writ Petition No. 2556 of 2020 challenging the conditions -- High Court heard final arguments and disposed of Petition