State government not obliged to pay salaries of ASCU employees: Gauhati HC
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: A bench of the Gauhati High Court (HC) refused to issue any direction to the state government for payment of salary to the employees of Assam State Cooperative Union (ASCU) as well as for providing grant-in-aid to ASCU.
A two-judge bench of the HC, comprising Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Kardak Ete, passed a combined order in two writ appeals, upholding the earlier order dated April 25, 2019 passed by a single judge of the HC.
The instant intra-court appeals were filed by the appellants against the common judgment and order dated April 25, 2019, passed by the single judge in WP(C) No.2971/2012 (preferred against which the Writ Appeal No.05/2022 was filed) and WP(C) No.2047/2017 (filed against Writ Appeal No.168/2019) respectively, along with WP(C) No.2556/2012, WP(C) No.2622/2013 and WP(C) No.812/2013, whereby the prayer of the petitioners (present appellants) for a direction to the state respondents for payment of monthly salary and other emoluments, as revised from time to time and to continue to provide grant-in-aid had been rejected by holding that the petitioners being employees of ASCU, which is a registered cooperative society, would not be entitled to a writ in the nature of Mandamus against the state government.
However, the bench was unable to agree with the view of the single judge that that the ASCU is an authority within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India, as there was nothing on record to show that the Assam government has 'deep and pervasive control' over the ASCU.
The case of the appellants can be briefly summed up as: The appellants are working as District Co-Operative Education Development Officer (DCEDO) in the ASCU, an organization sponsored and financed by the Government of Assam for promotion of Co-Operative education, training, publicity and propaganda work throughout the state of Assam. Since its inception in the year 1955-56, the Assam government has been providing financial assistance to the ASCU for smooth implementation of the schemes. However, the grant-in aid was stopped after 2012-13, when an amount of Rs 60 lakhs was last sanctioned for ACSU. The appellants said they have been deprived of their legitimate scale of pay as received by their senior counterparts, in spite of discharging equal and similar kind of duties.
After examining the materials on record and the earlier order of the single judge, the bench ruled that appellants have failed to show any right against the State Government for payment of the salaries or emoluments of employees of ASCU either under any statute or contract or otherwise. "Mere sporadic financial assistance by way of grant-in-aid for several years neither makes State respondent responsible to bear salaries of employees of ASCU nor creates any legal right to demand continuance of such grant-in-aid. Therefore, no writ is maintainable against the State Government of Assam, consequently no direction can be issued for payment of salary to the appellants as well as for providing grant-in-aid to ASCU," the bench stated in the order.
The bench also did not find any infirmity in the judgment and order dated April 25, 2019 of the single judge, "so far it relates to rejection of prayer of appellants for a direction to the Government of Assam for payment of salaries and allowances to the appellants." Both writ appeals failed and were dismissed.
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