Punjab and Haryana High Court Upholds Tribunal’s Decision Against Merger of Guide Post with Clerk Cadre
Court affirms that re-designation does not equate to cadre merger without amendment of service rules, dismisses claim for parity of pay and seniority.
In a significant ruling, the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed a petition challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal's order concerning the re-designation and purported merger of the post of Guide with the Clerk cadre. The petitioner, Narinder Pal Singh, a retired employee of the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh, sought parity in pay-scale and seniority, claiming that his post as a Guide was merged into the Clerk cadre when it was re-designated as Guide-cum-Clerk.
The court, comprising Justices Harsimran Singh Sethi and Vikas Suri, clarified that mere re-designation does not imply an automatic merger into another cadre. For a merger to be legally recognized, it must be duly incorporated in the recruitment rules through the prescribed amendment process—a step that was never completed in this case.
Singh contended that following a 1991 instruction for merging isolated posts with ministerial ones, his post should have been recognized as part of the Clerk cadre. However, the Chandigarh Administration, in a 2018 clarification, stated that no such merger occurred as the service rules remained unchanged.
The court upheld the Tribunal's December 2018 decision, emphasizing that without rule amendments, Singh's claim for the benefits of the Clerk cadre—such as pay parity and seniority—was untenable. The judgment underscored that seniority could only be granted from the date of an actual merger, which did not transpire.
Additionally, the court noted that Singh retired from his position without being integrated into the Clerk cadre, further weakening his claim. The bench concluded that no grounds existed for interfering with the Tribunal's original order, thus dismissing the writ petition.
This decision reaffirms the principle that administrative re-designations must be accompanied by formal procedural changes to affect cadre mergers and benefits.
Bottom Line:
Re-designation of posts does not imply automatic merger into another cadre unless service rules are duly amended.
Statutory provision(s): Service Law provisions on re-designation, merger, and amendment of service rules.
