ON SUBRAMANIAM CASE

Dear Comrades,

By this time news would have reached all of you that the SLP filed by the Dept against the Madras High Court Order in the Subramaniam case with regard to grant of GP 5400 on completion of 4 years in GP 4800 has been dismissed by the Supreme Court yesterday.  [For those who have asked me its impact implications etc, I would like to explain in simple terms that by this decision, it is held that who ever completed four years of continuous service in the GP 4800 shall be eligible to get GP 5400 PB-2. The contention of the dept that it will apply only to those who got promoted to the GP 4800 and only from that date, is rejected by the Hon'ble SC.]  We have work to do in this matter at the level of the Board and Ministry, so that the process of its implementation is quickened.

By a quirk of luck I could be available in the court when the matter came up for hearing – due to a trip planned to Delhi for organisational purposes at the insistence of Com. Anupam, but by the hands of providence the case got listed for Tuesday, our Advocate sounded Com. Arun Zakaria that it was coming up before a bench who were known to dispose of cases and hence a Senior Advocate had to be engaged, the same was immediately agreed upon, Com. Arun asked me to brief the Counsels, which I did and the papers made available by Com. Vigneshwara Raju in respect of Shivakumar case, the HC Order, the note sheets, the SLP dismissal in that case, etc were handed over to the Counsels and Com. Anupam and Com. Abhishek Kamal transferred the fees for the Counsels on Monday itself- all this happened in tandem.

Though the Sr. Advocate was fully geared up to argue on the merits of the case, merely on his handing over the papers related to the SLP already dismissed, even as the ASG was present, the two member bench dismissed the SLP.

THIS IS ANOTHER INSTANCE WHICH HAS SHOWN HOW WE CAN EASILY WIN OUR ISSUES BY WORKING IN TANDEM WITH THE INSPECTORS ASSOCIATION OR FOR THAT MATTER WITH OTHER SISTER ASSOCIATIONS WHO ARE ONLY OUR EXTENSIONS –PAST OR FUTURE. WE HAVE EARLIER GOT THE BENEFIT OF THE REVISION OF PAY SCALE WHEN OUR ASSOCIATIONS WORKED TOGETHER IN 2004.

Now, though I did not want to discuss anything about what Com. Ravi Malik did or not in this case, seeing his blog and copy of letter addressed to the FM copy endorsed to the PM, RS and others today, I am shocked.  Instead of seeking to get the issue settled amicably, he is trying to compound it by tagging it along with many other issues and making it look as if some large Constitutional issue is involved.

In fact in the Kolkota AEC, when Com. Kousik pleaded with him to take up this case, he made fun of Com. Kousik by asking him how Superintendent Association can take up Inspectors case.  When I intervened and stated that the beneficiaries were all Superintendents now and the case may not have much relevance for the present Inspectors and that it was the duty of our Association to protect the interests of its members, he innocently asked what he can do in the matter.  Then Com. Kousik explained that we have to engage a counsel, get the SLP brought up for early hearing and get it dismissed and only then all members can get the benefit because the individual had already got it and the question was now for implementation in its entirety. Then Com. Ravi declared that there were several similar litigations pending in various parts of India on various issues pertaining to the cadre and if we are to take up all those cases he would require Rs. 7 Crores. That was the end for that.

Thereafter we decided to get individual contributions and deposit in the account of AICEIA and with impleading petition of AICEIA, we conducted the case.  The arguments and paper books had been already prepared by Com. Arun Zakaria, Com. Kousik and Com. Ajit K.G.

Only now it’s time came and got disposed off as narrated above.

At this juncture, to tag this decision with so many other litigations and talking about a National Litigation Policy and also creating doubts about whether it will be implemented atall, etc, will only create trouble in getting it implemented for the cadre.

I hope people like Com. Pawan Kumar Reddy and Com. Venkatesh will be able to see the danger and take appropriate action to ensure that the boat is not rocked.