A person, who performs the duties of higher office, must get the salary of the same post: High Court of Himachal Pradesh
The post of Planning & Development Officer lying vacant w.e.f. 21.07.2014, was a higher post in the line of promotion from the post of Deputy Registrar substantively held by the petitioner. Therefore, following the dictum of Shiv Dayal Kataria’s case, supra, in the facts and attending circumstances of the case, the petitioner deserves to be granted the pay scale attached to the said post. This was held in Bishan Singh Chandel V. Himachal Pradesh University and another[CWPOA No.5378 of 2019] in the High Court of Himachal Pradesh by the single bench consisting of Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua.
Facts are that the petitioner was the senior-most Deputy Registrar. The petitioner had been ordered to give an additional charge to the post of Planning & Development Officer but he had not been given the pay scale (financial benefits) attached to the post. Thus the petitioner has preferred the writ petition.
The counsel for the petitioner contended that in any case, the respondent had taken the work of Planning & Development Officer from the petitioner w.e.f. 12.11.2014 and superannuated while discharging the duties of the said post. Thus the financial benefits attached with the post are deserved and need to be granted.
The Court made reference to the judgment of Co-ordinate Bench of Himachal High court in Shiv Dayal Kataria Versus Himachal Pradesh University, wherein the following observation had been made,“ A person, who performs the duties of higher office, must get the salary of the same post. He cannot waive of his fundamental/legal right to get a higher salary, even if an endorsement was made in the office order that the petitioner will not get the monetary benefits. Petitioner is also entitled to get the salary of the post of Superintending Engineer on the well-recognized principle of “equal pay for equal work”
Considering the precedents and the facts of the case the court held that, respondent-University should release the pay and allowances along with consequential benefits to the petitioner for discharging the duties of Planning & Development Officer. Thus deposing of the writ petition.