Manjit Singh vs State Of Punjab And Others

Harsimran Singh Sethi, J

By this common order, the writ petitions details of which have been given in the heading, are being decided as all the writ petitions involve the same

question of law and similar facts. For the purpose of the present order, the facts are being taken from CWP No.16640 of 2003.

In the present writ petition, the petitioner is claiming the benefits of the pay, leave encashment and gratuity. It may be noticed here that the petitioner

was an employee of respondent No.3 i.e. Khalsa Education Council and was working in Gujrawala Khalsa College, Civil Lines, Ludhiana, which is an

aided institution receiving 95% grant in aid from the Government of Punjab.

As per averments made in the writ petition, the petitioner was not given his salary by the institution when he was discharging his duties for a particular

period and after the retirement, the correct amount of gratuity and leave encashment have also not been extended to the petitioner, which grievance

has been raised by the petitioner by filing the present writ petition.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents raises a preliminary objection that keeping in view the amendment in the Punjab Affiliated

Colleges (Security of Service of Employee) Act, 1974, the remedy which the petitioner has to avail is before the Educational Tribunal and therefore,

the petitioner needs to be relegated to avail the remedy before the Educational Tribunal, Punjab. In support of the said contention, learned counsel for

the respondents relies upon the judgment of this Court passed in CWP No.25942 of 2012, titled as “Suresh Sharma vs State of Punjab and

othersâ€, decided on 11.04.2019, which judgment, has already been upheld by the Division Bench of this Court in LPA No.892 of 2019, titled as

“Surinder Krishan Sharma vs State of Punjab and othersâ€​, decided on 09.05.2019.

Faced with this situation, learned counsel for the petitioner very fairly states that the petitioner be relegated to avail his remedy before the Educational

Tribunal, Punjab. Learned counsel for the petitioner further prays that as the present writ petitions are pending before this Court and pleadings are

complete, let the paper book(s) of all the writ petitions be sent to the Educational Tribunal, Punjab, otherwise, the precious time of the Tribunal will be

wasted in filing the same pleadings once again. Learned counsel states that sending of the paper book(s) of all the writ petitions to the Tribunal will

expedite the hearing of claim of the petitioner as well.

Learned counsel for the respondent raises no objection to the plea raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner for sending the paper book(s) of all

the writ petitions for adjudication.

Keeping in view the above, as prayed for by the learned counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner is relegated to avail his remedy before the

Educational Tribunal, Punjab. The paper book(s) of all the writ petitions be sent to the Educational Tribunal, Punjab for passing appropriate orders on

the claim made by the petitioner, keeping in view the pleadings already raised by the parties. The parties are directed to appear before the Educational

Tribunal, Punjab on 28.02.2020.

All the writ petitions are disposed of in above terms.