HARDAYAL SINGH IAS Vs. BALWANT SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SARVSHRI Hardayal Singh, Secretary Education, Punjab Government and Shri Ujjal Didar Singh, Director, Public Instruction (Schools), Punjab have filed this appeal against the order of the learned Single Judge of this Court dated October 31, 1986.

(2.) THE respondents along with other petitioners moved C.W.P. No. 2653 of 1983 for a mandate to the State of Punjab and the Director of Public Instruction (School) to grant them regular running pay scale of the post of Master/Teachers from the date they joined service. They were initially appointed as untrained teachers. Instructions were issued by the Punjab Government to the effect that once a person had been recruited to the service and brought on a particular order of service, he should be allowed the scale of pay of that post irrespective of the fact whether on appointment he was an untrained master/teacher. The petitioners in CWP No. 2653 of 1983 sought benefit of those instructions. In that writ petition they also pleaded that in CWP No. 656 of 1977, decided on May 12, 1977, untrained Masters/Teachers were allowed the same scale of pay as was allowed to the regular trained Masters/Teachers from the date of their appointment. The writ petition came up for final disposal before D.V. Sehgal, J. on January 14, 1986. The learned Judge held thus :-

(3.) THE order of learned Single Judge was complied with. Initiation of contempt proceedings was a gross abuse of the process of the Court. The learned Judge was in error in proceeding with the same. We find that the learned Judge was not justified in proceeding with the contempt petition after he was informed that the judgment had been complied with. It cannot be said that the appellants have disobeyed the orders of the Court wilfully or contumaciously. The interpretation placed by them on the judgment of this Court cannot be categorised as unjust or wrong.