Successive promotions on consecutive days render the employee’s DNI pay-fixation option unavailable.

The Applicant, a retired Chief Telegraph Master, entered service as a Clerk on 8 December 1954 and was subsequently appointed as a Telegraphist on 18 May 1961. He retired on 30 June 1992. Having completed the requisite service, he claimed entitlement to higher grades under the One Time Bound Promotion (OTBP) and Biennial Cadre Review (BCR) Schemes. He was granted OTBP Grade II with effect from 30 November 1983 and exercised the option for pay fixation from 1 April 1984.

The Applicant was thereafter granted BCR promotion with effect from 24 October 1990 and BCR Grade IV/10% BCR promotion with effect from 25 October 1990. His pay was fixed at Rs.2,050/- upon the first promotion and Rs.2,120/- upon the second promotion.

Pursuant to earlier proceedings before the Tribunal, the High Court and the Supreme Court, he was subsequently granted the 10% BCR placement with effect from 25 October 1990.

The Applicant contended that he was entitled to fixation of basic pay at Rs.2,300/- from 1 April 1990 and to consequential monetary benefits. The Respondents, however, maintained that because the two promotions occurred on successive days, the Applicant could not exercise the option to have his pay re-fixed from the date of the next increment (DNI). The impugned order dated 6 March 2015 consequently treated his next increment as falling due on 1 October 1991, when his pay was fixed at Rs.2,180/-.

Whether the Applicant’s pay was correctly fixed at Rs.2,180/- with effect from 1 October 1991, after his successive BCR promotions on 24 and 25 October 1990?

Whether the Applicant was entitled to exercise the DNI option and obtain a further re-fixation of pay and consequential monetary benefits despite receiving the second promotion on the very next day?

Whether any further monetary amount remained payable to the Applicant after the pay differentials arising from the revised fixation had been paid?

The Tribunal applied the applicable Fundamental Rules governing fixation of pay on promotion, particularly FR-22 and the principles contained in Para 4 of FR-22 concerning successive promotions and the effect of a second promotion before re-fixation from the date of the next increment.

Under this rule, where an employee receives a second promotion before the date on which pay under the first promotion is to be re-fixed from the DNI, pay must be regulated with reference to the date of the second promotion, and the earlier DNI option becomes ineffective.

The Tribunal also applied the terms of the OTBP and BCR Schemes, under which the Applicant was granted successive financial upgradations, and the principle that pay-fixation rules must be applied uniformly to similarly situated employees and cannot be altered merely to confer a more advantageous benefit on one employee.

The Tribunal found that the Applicant’s first BCR promotion took effect on 24 October 1990 and his BCR Grade IV/10% BCR promotion took effect on 25 October 1990, i.e., on the immediately succeeding day.

Applying FR-22 and the governing principle for successive promotions, the Tribunal held that the second promotion had to be taken into account before any re-fixation of pay from the DNI relating to the first promotion. Accordingly, the Applicant was not entitled to retain or exercise the earlier DNI option.

His pay was therefore correctly fixed at Rs.2,120/- from 25 October 1990 and at Rs.2,180/- from 1 October 1991, the next increment date following the second promotion.

The pay particulars showed that the differential amounts arising from the revised fixation had already been paid to him, leaving no further monetary liability on the Respondents.

Since the admissible differential amounts had already been paid, the Applicant was not entitled to any further monetary benefits.

The Original Application was accordingly dismissed as devoid of merit, with no order as to costs.