Ad hoc promotion to Senior Scale bars option for pay fixation from the next increment date.

The applicant, a Railway officer, was granted promotion to the Senior Scale on an ad hoc basis with effect from 26.02.2013.

His pay was fixed from the date of ad hoc promotion.

He contended that, under the applicable pay-fixation provisions, he should instead have been permitted to exercise an option for fixation from 01.07.2013, the date of his next annual increment in the lower post, so that he would receive both the promotional benefit and the regular annual increment.

The applicant was subsequently appointed to Group ‘A’, Junior Scale of IRSEE with effect from 11.06.2014.

He made several representations seeking re-fixation of pay from 01.07.2013, relying principally on Railway Board’s instructions contained in RBE No. 138/2007.

His claim was ultimately rejected through the Nivaran portal on 20.07.2017 on the ground that re-fixation was not permissible.

The applicant therefore filed the present Original Application seeking quashing of the rejection and grant of consequential pay and pensionary benefits.

Whether an officer promoted to the Senior Scale on an ad hoc basis could exercise an option under FR 22(I)(a)(1) to have his pay fixed from the date of the next annual increment in the lower post, rather than from the date of ad hoc promotion?

Whether the applicant’s subsequent appointment to Group ‘A’, Junior Scale entitled him to re-fixation of pay from 01.07.2013 under RBE No. 138/2007?

The Tribunal applied FR 22(I)(a)(1), formerly FR 22(c), which generally permits a Government servant promoted to a higher post to opt for pay fixation either from the date of promotion or from the date of accrual of the next increment in the lower post; however, the rule expressly excludes appointments or promotions made on an ad hoc basis.

The Tribunal also considered RBE No. 138/2007, particularly paragraphs 2(b), 2(c) and 3, concerning options for pay fixation on promotion and the requirement that the option clause be incorporated in promotion orders.

However, it relied on RBE No. 313/1999, which specifically clarifies that a Group ‘B’ officer promoted directly to the Senior Scale on an ad hoc basis is not entitled to exercise the option for fixation from the date of the next increment under FR 22(c).

The governing principle was therefore that the general option available under FR 22(I)(a)(1) does not apply to ad hoc promotion to the Senior Scale.

The Tribunal found that the applicant’s promotion to the Senior Scale on 26.02.2013 was expressly ad hoc.

Although the applicant argued that fixation from 01.07.2013 would preserve his annual increment and provide a more beneficial financial result, the Tribunal held that the statutory exclusion in FR 22(I)(a)(1) barred such an option in cases of ad hoc promotion.

RBE No. 313/1999 specifically addressed the pay fixation of Group ‘B’ officers promoted to the Senior Scale on an ad hoc basis and excluded the very option claimed by the applicant.

The later appointment to Group ‘A’, Junior Scale did not create a right to re-fix the pay from 01.07.2013, since the original Senior Scale promotion remained an ad hoc promotion governed by the specific Railway Board clarification.

Accordingly, the applicant’s pay fixation from 26.02.2013 was held to be in accordance with the applicable rules.

It held that an officer promoted to the Senior Scale on an ad hoc basis cannot opt for pay fixation from the date of the next increment in the lower post, and that the applicant was therefore not entitled to fixation from 01.07.2013.

The rejection of his claim was upheld, the Original Application was dismissed as devoid of merit, and there was no order as to costs.