Pay protection cannot be withdrawn for non-production of the original service book without natural justice.

The Petitioner was appointed as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Assam University, Diphu Campus, on 23 February 2011.

With permission from Assam University, he applied for and was selected as Lecturer in Political Science at Berhampur University.

He joined Berhampur University on 19 February 2016 after tendering his technical resignation from Assam University.

Assam University issued and transmitted the Petitioner’s Last Pay Certificate (LPC), on the basis of which Berhampur University granted him protection of his last pay by order dated 13 January 2017.

Although Assam University later sent a certified copy of the Petitioner’s Service Book, it did not transmit the original Service Book despite repeated correspondence.

Berhampur University subsequently withdrew the Petitioner’s pay protection and reduced his salary to the initial scale from December 2019, without issuing a formal order or providing an opportunity of hearing.

It also sought to recover amounts already paid pursuant to the pay-protection order.

The Petitioner challenged the withdrawal and recovery under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution.

Whether Berhampur University could withdraw the Petitioner’s previously granted pay protection merely because the original Service Book had not been received from Assam University, despite receipt of the LPC and a certified copy of the Service Book?

Whether the reduction of the Petitioner’s salary and recovery of amounts already paid, without a formal order or opportunity of hearing, violated the principles of natural justice?

The Court applied Article 257 of the Odisha Universities First Statutes, 1990, which provides for protection of the last pay drawn by a person previously serving under the State or Central Government, an affiliated and aided college, or a statutory institution, when appointed to a University post.

It also considered Article 72-A and Appendix-11 of the Odisha Service Code, which regulate the maintenance and transmission of Service Books but do not prescribe that pay protection must be denied or withdrawn in the absence of the original Service Book.

The Court further relied on the evidentiary value of certified copies under Sections 63, 76, 77 and 79 of the Indian Evidence Act, corresponding to Sections 58, 75, 76 and 78 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam.

Finally, the Court applied the principles of natural justice, holding that reduction of pay and recovery from salary cannot ordinarily be effected without notice and an opportunity of hearing.

The Court held that the Petitioner had entered Berhampur University service after obtaining due permission from Assam University and that his last pay had been protected on the basis of the LPC issued by his former employer.

Article 257 therefore supported continuation of the pay protection.

The Court rejected Berhampur University’s reliance on Appendix-11 of the Odisha Service Code, observing that those provisions concerned maintenance of the Service Book and did not specifically make production of the original Service Book a condition for pay protection.

Since Berhampur University possessed a certified copy of the Service Book, and the Petitioner had no control over the inter-university transmission of the original, he could not fairly be made to suffer for its non-receipt.

The Court further found that Berhampur University had reduced the Petitioner’s salary and sought recovery without passing a formal order or granting him an opportunity to be heard.

Such action violated natural justice and was otherwise unfair and unsustainable, particularly because the original pay-protection order had not been shown to be erroneous or invalid.

The Court held that Berhampur University could not withdraw the Petitioner’s pay protection on the ground that the original Service Book had not been received from Assam University, particularly when the LPC and certified Service Book were available.

The reduction of salary and recovery of amounts paid, having been undertaken without notice or hearing, were declared illegal and unsustainable.

Berhampur University was directed to restore and pay the Petitioner all benefits arising from pay protection in accordance with the original order dated 13 January 2017, with immediate effect.