SHREE CHANDRASHEKHAR,J. - (1.) Multiple prayers have been made in this writ petition. Some of the prayers are; payment of GPF amount with interest, quashing pay-fixation letter dated 22.01.2011, payment of incremental house rent etc. However, during the course of argument the learned counsel for the petitioner addressed the Court only on the issue of grant of extraordinary leave to the petitioner for 753 days.
(2.) The learned counsel for the petitioner has referred to Rule 179, 180, 232 and 236 of the Jharkhand Service Code, 2001, which are extracted below : Rule 179(a) Leave not due may be granted subject to the following conditions (i) on medical certificate, without limit of amount, and (ii) otherwise than on medical certificate, for more than three months at any one time and six months in all, reckoned in terms of leave on average pay : Provided that such leave shall be granted to a Government servant unless there is a reasonable prospect that he will return to duty and earn an equivalent amount of leave. Note- In cases where a Government servant who has been granted leave due under this clause applied for permission to retire voluntarily the leave due shall, if the permission be granted, be cancelled and his retirement shall have effect from the date on which such leave commenced. [An undertaking to this effect should therefore be taken from Government servants, who avail of 'leave due'. The question where a Government servant should be called upon to refund the amount of leave salary should be decided on the merits of each case e.g., if the retirement of such Government servant is voluntary, refund should be enforced but if it is unavoidable by reason of ill health incapacitating him for further service, no refund should be insisted upon.] (b) When a Government servant returns from leave which was due and which was debited against his leave account, no leave will become due to him until after he has earned a credit of leave equal to the period which he took before it was due. Rule 180 :(a) In special circumstances and when no other leave is under these rules admissible, extraordinary leave may be granted. Such leave is debited against the leave account. No leave salary is admissible during such leave. (b) The authority empowered to sanction leave may grant extraordinary leave in combination with, or in continuation of, any leave that is admissible, and may commute retrospectively period of absence without leave into extraordinary leave. Note 1.-The State Government may for special reasons dispense with the condition that extraordinary leave may be granted only when no other leave is by rule admissible, provided that a Government servant cannot be compelled to take extraordinary leave when leave with allowances is admissible to him. Note.2- The power of commuting period of absence without leave into extraordinary leave under sub-rule( b) is absolute; in other words, such commutation is permissible even when other leave was admissible to Government servant at the time his absence without leave commenced. Rule 232 : Half pay leave will be earned without any restriction to the limit of accumulation, in the course of service, at the following rates, for each completed year of service : (a) 20 days in the case of a Government servant in superior service; and (b) 15 days in the case of a Government servant in inferior service. Such leave can be availed of on private affairs as well as on medical certificate. There will be no limit on the half pay leave that can be availed of at a time on medical certificate and this will apply even when such leave is taken preparatory to retirement: Provided that no half pay leave may be granted unless the authority competent to sanction leave has reason to believe that the Government servant will return to duty after its expiry. Explanation 1.- The term "completed year of service" used in this rule means continuous service of specified duration under the Government of Bihar or the late Government of Bihar and Orissa, and includes period spent on duty as well as on leave (including extraordinary leave.). Explanation 2.- Half pay leave in respect of any completed year of service during which the service rendered by a Government servant has been partly in a superior and partly in an inferior service, should be calculated on prorata basis separately in respect of superior service and inferior service and added up. The fraction, if any, present in the total or half pay leave for the particular year should be ignored if it is less than half, or reckoned as one day if it is half or more. Rule 236 : Extraordinary leave may be granted to a Government servant in special circumstances : (i) when no other leave is admissible under these rules; (ii) when, other leave being admissible, the Government servant concerned applies in writing for the grant of extraordinary leave.
(3.) In the counter-affidavit, the respondents have pleaded that the petitioner remained absent from duty from 05.03.2003 to 05.07.2005 i.e., for 753 days and from 06.04.2006 to 30.11.2006, i.e., for 239 days. The petitioner has superannuated from service on 31.10.2009. The periods of 753 days and 239 days have been sanctioned as extraordinary leave. Referring to order dated 09.11.2010, the learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the aforesaid periods have been sanctioned as medical leave and, therefore, it cannot be treated as extraordinary leave. This contention is bereft of substance. Letter dated 09.11.2010 merely states that taking note of the medical certificate produced by him the aforesaid periods of absence have been sanctioned as extraordinary leave. These periods of leave have been sanctioned on the basis of the medical certificate produced by the petitioner, which is a requirement under the rules.;