R. DURAISWAMY AND ORS. versus DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND ORS.

Citation: [2000] SUPP. 5 S.C.R. 565 · Decided: 12-12-2000 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S. RAJENDRA BABU · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

R. DURAISWAMY AND ORS. 
A 
v. 
DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND ORS. 
DECEMBER 12, 2000 
[S. RAJENDRA BABU AND SHIVARAJ V. PATIL, JJ.] 
B 
Service law : 
Disparity in pay-Teachers absorbed in High School service and 
teachers promoted as Head Masters in Primary/Middle Schools-Held, they C 
constitute different cadres of service and therefore no disparity. 
Petitioners, who were initially appointed as teachers in Panchayat Union 
Elementary Schools, were working in Middle Schools. The Middle Schools 
were upgraded as High Schools and the petitioners were transferred and D 
absorbed in the High School service. Teachers, who were junior to the 
petitioners and continued in the Elementary Schools, were promoted as Head 
Masters in the Primary and Middle Schools and getting more pay than the 
petitioners. The Petitioners approached the State Administrative Tribunal for 
fixation of pay on par with the Head Masters in the Elementary Schools. The 
Tribunal , initially relying upon certain Government orders, held that the E 
teachers of the Elementary and Middle Schools and the teachers of the High 
Schools constituted one service and granted relief. Subsequently, on review, 
the Tribunal rejected the claim of the petitioners. 
In these Special Leav~ Petitions, the petitioners contended that they 
would have become Head l\.'1asters in the Primary/Middle Schools on the basis F 
of their seniority if they continued their service in the Elementary Schools, 
and entitled to draw higher scales. 
Dismissing the appeals, the Court 
HELD: I. The claim of the petitioners is unfounded. If aggrieved, they G 
should have chosen to get back to their parent schools and derived benefits, 
which were given to those who continued in the Panchayat Union Elementary 
Schools. On absorption in the High Schools, the petitioners ceased to be a 
part of the cadre of teachers serving in schools run by the Panchayat Union. 
The protection granted by the Government on which the Tribunal had earlier H 
565 
566 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] SUPP. 5 S.C.R. 
A placed reliance was only in relation to pay and awarding of selection or special 
grade and that would not constitute one single cadre. [567-C] 
Director o/School Eduction & Anr. v. A.N. Kandaswamy & Anr., (1998) 
5 SCALE 699, relied on. 
B 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : 
Special Leave Petitions (C) Nos. 11650-52of1997. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 27.1.97 of the Tamil Nadu 
Administrative Tribunal, Madras in R.A. Nos. 51-53of1995 in O.A. Nos. 4698 
C to 4692 of 1994. 
T. Raja for the Petitioners. 
R. Mohan, Sr. Adv., M.A. Chinnasamy and A. Mariaputham, for 
Arputham and Aruna & Co. for the Respondents Nos. 2 to 5. 
D 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
RAJENDRA BABU, J. The Petitioners before us were appointed as 
teachers in the Panchayat Union Elementary Schools under the Tamil Nadu 
Elementary Education Subordinate Service. When they were working in such 
Middle Schools, they were upgraded as High Schools and the Petitioners 
E were transferred to the High Schools. The Petitioners were absorbed in the 
High School Service but some of the teachers, who were stated to be junior 
to the Petitioners and who continued in the Panchayat Union Elementary 
Schools, were subsequently promoted as Head Masters in the primary and 
the Middle Schools run by the Panchayat Union. They were allowed to draw 
F their pay in the scale of Rs. 2,000- 3,200 from 1.6.88 pursuant to G.0. issued 
on 5.10.1990. The result was that they started getting more pay than the 
Petitioners did. 
In those circumstances the Petitioners and others approached the Tamil 
Nadu Administrative Tribunal [hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal'] for 
fixation of their pay on par with the Head Masters in the Panchayat Union 
G schools. They contended that, apart from the unfairness of being paid lesser 
salary, had they continued in the Panchayat Union schools, they would have 
become Head Masters in the Primary/Middle Schools on the basis of their 
seniority and thus would have been entitled to draw such higher scales. The 
Tribunal relied upon certain Government orders and held that the teachers of 
H the elementar; and Middle Schools and the teachers of the High Schools 
! 
J 
R. DURAISWAMY v. DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL EDUCATION (RAJENDRA HABU. J.J 567 
constituted one service and, therefore, granted relief to them in some of the A 
applications filed before it. But in subsequent applications filed before the 
Tribunal, the m

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