Daya Chaudhary, J. - (1.) This judgment of mine shall dispose of five Writ Petitions bearing Nos.4540 of 2001, 11430 of 2001, 6527 of 2001, 11039 of 2003 and 19003 of 2003 as the issue and law point involved in all these cases is the same. However, for the sake of convenience, the facts are being extracted from Civil Writ Petition No.4540 of 2001.
(2.) Petitioners have filed the present petition for quashing of instructions dated 17.04.2000 issued by the Department of Personnel, impugned order dated 17/23.01.2001 as well as order dated 06/21.07.2000, whereby, the refixation of pay has been denied. A further prayer has also been made for issuance of direction to the respondent-State not to reduce the salary of the petitioners.
(3.) Briefly, the facts of the case, as made out in the petition, are that the petitioners were initially appointed as Veterinary Officers on various dates. They were governed by the Rules called the 'Punjab Veterinary Assistant Surgeons State Service Rules, 1982. Promotion from the post of Veterinary Assistant Surgeon was to the post of Assistant Director in the Punjab Animal Husbandry Department which was governed by the Rules called the 'Punjab Animal Husbandry (State Service Class II) Rules, 1981. The promotion was to be made to the post of Deputy Director, Manager (Indo Swiss Project), General Manager (Buffalo Breeding) etc. from the post of Assistant Director. Vide notification dated 02.02.1996, all the three sets of Rules i.e 'Punjab Animal Husbandry Class I Service Rules, 1980', 'The Punjab Veterinary Assistant Surgeons State Service Rules, 1982' and 'the Punjab Animal Husbandry (State Service Class II) Rules, 1981 were repealed by the Rules called the 'Punjab Animal Husbandry (Class I) Service Rules, 1996 (here-in-after called as the "1996 Rules"). As per said Rules of 1996, the Veterinary Officers were to be promoted to the post of Assistant Directors after having experience of eight years and from the post of Assistant Directors/Senior Veterinary Officers to the post of Deputy Directors after having experience of 18 years. All the appointments/promotions were to be made on the basis of seniority-cummerit. The Veterinary Officers were to get the revised pay scale of Rs. 940-1850/- on 01.01.1978 with a selection grade of 20% posts. This pay scale was revised with effect from 01.01.1986 into three running pay scales i.e Rs. 2200-4000, Rs. 3000-4500/- (after eight years of service) and Rs. 3700- 5700/- (after 18 years of service). All the petitioners were granted fitment in the revised pay scales by considering number of years served by them. As per said notification, the posts of Veterinary Officers, Assistant Directors and Deputy Directors were merged into one cadre and they were given three running pay scales. Thereafter, the pay scales were again revised by the respondent-State as notified on 16.01.1998. Thereafter the said rules were amended vide notification dated 19.05.1998. As per amended rules, four tier pay scales were provided instead of three tier pay scales. Pay scales of the petitioners were also revised and arrears were also paid to them. The operation of the above pay scales was kept in abeyance vide letter dated 23.09.1998 pending issuance of guidelines/clarification. The respondents- State issued fresh instructions dated 17.04.2000 vide which certain clarification was given regarding implementation of the Fourth Pay Commission Recommendations. As per said instructions, the placement in the higher pay scale was to be made on the basis of work assessment and conduct of the employee. By relying upon the said instructions, the order for refixation of pay and recovery from the petitioners was passed.;