- (1.) In the instant writ application, petitioner has prayed for an appropriate writ directing the concerned respondents to fix the post retrial benefits of the petitioner including the pension payable to him in the pay scale of Rs. 4000-6000 to which the petitioner is entitled on the ground that he was posted and working as a Gate Operator. A further prayer has been made for issuance of a direction to the concerned respondents to give the arrears of pay to the petitioner in the pay scale of Rs. 4000-6000 and to fix final pension of the petitioner in the aforesaid scale and disburse the same with immediate effect along with all arrears.
(2.) The petitioner was originally appointed on the post of Khalasi initially in the office of Executive Engineer, Hatia Dam Division-1, Ranchi where he joined on 10th May 1962. In the year 1970, services of the petitioner as well as several others were taken over by the Public Health Engineering Department of the State of Bihar. On 30.4.1975 he was promoted to the post of Gate Operator-cum-Guard in the pay scale of Rs. 180-242. He served on the aforesaid post till the date of his retirement on 30.6.2002. At the time of his retirement, the petitioner was given the pay scale of Rs. 2650-4000 only which was the pay scale of the persons employed on the post of Khalasi, whereas the pay scale of Gate Operator, according to the petitioner, stood after revision in 1981 at Rs. 4000-6000. Referring to another employee namely, Bhubneshwar Mahato who was (sic) provisional pension and even provisional pension has been withheld for the last several years.
(3.) A counter-affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondents 1 to 5 and 7 denying and disputing the claim of the petitioner. While admitting the fact that the petitioner was initially appointed as Khalasi and was later, given the post of Gate Operator and that, he had superannuated while working in the post of Gate Operator, the contrary stand taken by the respondents is that the petitioner was initially appointed on the post of Khalasi which carried the revised pay scale of Rs. 2550-3200 and since the scale of Gate Operator after revision in the year 1996 was fixed at Rs. 2650-4000, the same was fixed for the petitioner and as on 1.1.1996, the petitioner s pay was fixed at Rs. 4000+272 (RPP). The petitioner is therefore, not entitled to any higher pay scale of Rs. 4000-6000 as erroneously claimed by him. In paragraph-11 of the counter-affidavit, it has been explained that reference to another employee namely, Bhubneshwar Mahato as made by the petitioner for claiming equal status, is wrong as because, the said Bhubneshwar Mahato was appointed to the post of Electrician Grade-II and his scale of pay was fixed in accordance with the scale payable to the Electrician Grade-II and not for Gate Operator, though subsequently, he was allotted the work of Gate Operator.;