Shri. Lokya Sangtam v. The State of Nagaland and 3 Ors

ORDER Date : 01.03.2024

Heard Mr. Toshitemjeni, learned counsel on behalf of the petitioner Shri Lokya Sangtam and Ms. A. Ayemi, learned Government Advocate for all the respondents. The petitioner has filed this application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of writ in the nature of Certiorari and/or Mandamus and/or any other ap-propriate writ/order or direction to the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner for scale of pay with those regular em-ployees who are discharging the same duties/work. It is submitted on behalf of the petitioner that the petitioner was appointed vide order dated 17/8/2001 as contin-gency sweeper at a fixed pay of Rs.450/- Pm and attached to the office of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Soil & Water Conserva-tion, Kiphire Nagaland. It is also submitted that as similarly situ-ated contingency employees have already been granted scale of pay, the petitioner filed representation before the respondent No.3. The learned Government Advocate has submitted that rep-resentation of the petitioner is still under consideration and it is likely to be considered. I have considered the submissions at the bar with circumspection. The learned counsel for the petitioner has relied on the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in W.A.25/2022 Page No.# 3/3 dated 20/1/2023 wherein the appellant authorities were directed to grant scale of pay to the respondent. The learned counsel for the petitioner has also relied on the judgment of a co-ordinate Bench of this Court in W.P.(C) 240/2020 dated 20/2/2024, wherein the respondents more particularly respondent Nos 2 and 3 were directed to consider the representation of the petitioner Shri H. Yanhokiu. I have relied on the judgment passed by this Court in W.A. 25/2022 and W.P.(C) 240/2022. In the light of the direc-tions passed by this Court in the aforementioned cases cap-tioned above, this writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondent authorities to consider the representation of the petitioner at par with the similarly placed Grade-IV employees who were granted scale of pay as revealed through (RTI) letter No.SC/RTI-8/2023-24/3066 dated 9/8/2023 and consider the prayer of the petitioner for scale of pay as same as those regular employees who are discharging the same duties/work. The matter stands closed. Endeavour shall be made by the respondent authori-ties to complete the exercise within a period of 3(three) months.

Sd/- JUDGE Comparing Assistant

Page No.# 1/3 GAHC020004972022 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) KOHIMA BENCH Case No. : WP(C)/177/2022 SHRI. LOKYA SANGTAM OFFICE OF THE SUB-DIVISIONAL OFFICER, SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION, KIPHIRE, NAGALAND, R/O KIPHIRE, NAGALAND VERSUS THE STATE OF NAGALAND AND 3 ORS REPRESENTED BY THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND, KOHIMA 2:THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY DEPARTMENT OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION NAGALAND KOHIMA 3:THE DIRECTOR SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND KOHIMA 4:THE SUB-DIVISIONAL OFFICER SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION KIPHIRE NAGALAN Advocate for the Petitioner : ANUNGLA LKR Advocate for the Respondent : GOVT ADV NL Page No.# 2/3 BEFORE HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SUSMITA PHUKAN KHAUND