Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 19: The High Court today expressed serious concern over non-implementation of judgment on settling the pensionary benefits of 460 Veterinary Doctors by observing that there was no need of further unnecessary litigation if the Government had settled the issue on basic judgment passed in 2017 and directed to accord sanction to their claim for release of benefits.
Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey after hearing the Senior counsel Syed Faisal Qadri on behalf of J&K Veterinary Doctors Association before proceeding against the concerned officials granted last opportunity to Principal Secretary Animal/Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Department to forward the cases of these doctors to Accountant General to enable him to accord sanction for pension payment order on the basis of release of third time bound promotion to the petitioners.
Advocate Qadri submitted before the Court that all the concerned authorities were writing to the Principal Secretary to release of the benefits in favour of the members of the association, but still the same is not being released in their favour for known reasons.
The Accountant General, Court directed on receipt of requisitioned information from Principal Secretary shall expeditiously accord sanction in tune with the requirement of law in favour of all the members of Association whose cases are awaiting release of pensionary benefits.
Justice Magrey said the denial of pensionary benefits is a violation of Constitutional guarantees and the employees cannot ordinarily be deprived of it and the plight of petitioners can only be imagined as one really wonders as to how the petitioners would be making their both ends meet in these hard times.
Union counsel appearing for the AG sought permission to place on record the communication addressed to the Principal Secretary seeking the cases and list of those beneficiaries in whose favour third time bound Promotion has become due so as to enable them to finalize the cases accordingly. Court took the communication on record.
Court said the response filed by the authorities is not applicable to the facts and circumstances of the case in hand as the stand taken by Government counsel that there are some proceedings pending before Supreme Court having bearing on the instant case is contrary to the decision made by the Government.
The basic judgment passed way back in the year 2017 directing the Government to accord benefit of “Third Time Bound Promotion” in favour of the members of J&K Veterinary Doctors Association from the date they have completed 20 years of cumulative service with a period of three months.
Since 2017 the judgment has remained unimplemented by the authorities compelled the Association to file further proceedings against the erring officials including Principal Secretary and Director Sheep Animal Husbandry Department for not implementing the judgment.
It was in the year 1988 that a scheme was introduced by the J&K Government to grant Time Bound Promotion in favour of doctors of Health Services Department and for that matter an order was issue on July 22, 1988. Later the benefit of the scheme was also extended to doctors of Indian Medicine System.
The scheme was also implored for the Veterinary doctors of Animal and Sheep Husbandry Department vide SRO 43 dated 17.2.2004. The Government has granted Third Time Bound Promotion to Doctors of Health department including Surgeons, Specialists, Allopathic doctors and the doctors of Indian Medicine System but the doctors of Veterinary were singled out from the benefit which the court has turned down.
Court while passing the judgment said that when the Government deals with public related matters even in distribution of bounty, the democratic form of Government exacts equivalence and absence of arbitrariness and discrimination.
The Government, Court said, need not to venture into any such accord having discriminatory ramifications on other set of stratum. The court declared the denial of “Third Time Bound Promotion” by the Government to the Veterinary doctors as unsustainable in law and accordingly set-aside the same denial.
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