Is arrears of salary for a notionally promoted post payable automatically once disciplinary proceedings are set aside, or does it depend on whether exoneration was on merits or on technicalities?
Coram: T. Vinod Kumar
Payment of arrears of salary is not automatic; it depends on the facts and circumstances of each case, and the authority must consider whether the disciplinary proceedings ended in the employee's favour on merits or on account of technicalities, benefit of doubt, or non-availability of evidence attributable to the employee. Only exoneration on merits justifies a claim for arrears.
Fundamental Rules of Tamil Nadu Government — Rule 27(17) — Notional promotion — Arrears of salary on exoneration in disciplinary proceedings — Fundamental Rules, Tamil Nadu — Rule 27(17) — Scope — Whether limited to seniority-restoration cases — Held: Rule 27(17), read with its two provisos, covers not only cases where a Government servant's seniority is restored on appeal but also cases where his name is excluded or deferred for the promotion panel due to pendency of disciplinary charges; the petitioner's exclusion from the panel on account of pendency of proceedings under Rule 17(b) of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1955 falls squarely within the Sub-Rule. (¶17, 18, 19) Fundamental Rules, Tamil Nadu — Rule 27(17) — Arrears of salary — Exoneration on merits versus on technicalities — Held further: Payment of arrears of salary consequent on notional promotion is not automatic upon disciplinary proceedings being set aside, but depends on whether the proceedings ended in the delinquent's favour on merits or merely on technicalities; only exoneration on merits justifies a claim for arrears, and closure on technicalities does not entitle the employee to arrears. (¶20, 22) Fundamental Rules, Tamil Nadu — Rule 27(17) — Assumption of charge — Risk and responsibility attached to the post — Held further: Arrears of salary attached to a post are payable only to one who has held that post and borne its risks and responsibilities; the petitioner, having been only notionally promoted and never having assumed charge or discharged duties in the promotional post, cannot claim the monetary benefits of that post while retaining only its pensionary benefit. (¶21, 24, 29) Fundamental Rules of Tamil Nadu Government — Rule 27(17) — Notional promotion — Delayed and unprotested claim after retirement — Held further: The petitioner's disciplinary proceedings having been set aside twice on technicalities and not on merits, and the petitioner having accepted retiral benefits without protest and raised the claim for arrears only two years after retirement, the challenge to the impugned order denying arrears is devoid of merits. Writ petition dismissed. (¶22, 31, 32, 33)
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