Pre-grant service counts for notional pay fixation and pensionary benefits, but not salary arrears.

The petitioners, teaching and non-teaching employees or their legal heirs, sought recognition of service rendered from initial appointment until the relevant posts were admitted to grant-in-aid.

They claimed that this service should be reckoned for pay fixation, seniority, increments, TBA, pension and other consequential benefits, relying on earlier court orders.

The Court considered the Division Bench’s decision in W.A. No. 2476/2015 and connected matters, particularly paragraph 61, which clarified the scope of relief for service rendered during the non-grant period.

The Court applied the principle stated in paragraph 61 of the Division Bench’s decision in W.A. No. 2476/2015 and connected matters, dated 24 July 2026: service during the non-grant period may be counted for notional pay fixation as of the date the post is admitted to grant-in-aid and for consequential benefits, including pension and other service benefits.

The State is not liable for salary or other monetary benefits for the period before grant-in-aid; under Annexure I to the Rules, 1999, that payment liability rests with the institution’s management until the post is admitted to grant-in-aid.

The petitioners’ claim concerned the treatment of their pre-grant service.

The Court treated paragraph 61 of the Division Bench decision as controlling: it allowed that service to be counted for notional pay fixation and consequential benefits, while excluding any State liability for salary arrears or other monetary benefits for the non-grant period.

The Court therefore directed the respondents to reckon the petitioners’ service consistently with that limitation.

The consideration was to be completed within six months; no arrears or other monetary benefits from the State were available for the pre-grant period.

The petition was allowed and disposed of.