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NON-REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL  NO(S).  2198 OF 2006 DR. ABHINAV GUPTA                             Appellant(s)

                               VERSUS PROF. G.K. MEHTA ERSTWHILE VICE CHANCELLOR UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD            Respondent(s)

J U D G M E N T

KURIAN, J. 1. When the matter was taken up today, the learned counsel for the respondent was not present.

2. The appellant approached this Court, aggrieved by the order dated 30.09.2005 in Civil Misc. Contempt Application No. 273 of 2004 passed by the High Court of judicature at Allahabad.  This order was passed in the contempt jurisdiction.  The impugned order reads as follows :-

“This  contempt  petition  has  been filed  with  the  allegation  that  the order  of  the  writ  court  dated 11-11-2003  passed  in  writ  petition No. 34181 of 2003 has been violated. Upon issuance of notice, affidavits

have  been  exchanged  between  the parties.  It is not denied that the applicant has already been reinstated and is being paid salary of lecturer

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from  the  date  of  judgment.   In  my view, there is substantial compliance of the writ order. In view of the aforesaid, notices

are discharged.  Contempt petition is rejected and consigned to record.”

3. When the matter was pending before this Court, the Registrar of the University of Allahabad filed a detailed affidavit dated 11.11.2014.  Paragraph 'o' of the affidavit reads as follows :-

“The University thereafter became a Central  University  in  2005  as mentioned above.  The deponent, the alleged  contemnor  was  appointed  as Officiating  Registrar  on  20.12.2012 of  the  University.   This  case  was never  brought  to  his  notice  before and it was only after the show cause notice in the suo moto contempt as mentioned  above,  he  gathered  the papers  of  the  case  and  took immediate  steps  for  release  of  the arrears of payment of salary to the Appellant.   A  cheque  No.  666475 dated 10.11.2014 drawn on State Bank of  India,  Allahabad  University Branch for a sum of Rs. 13,11,518/- after  deducting  income  tax  of  Rs. 5,86,482/- from the total arrears of Rs. 18,98,000/- is being tendered in the  court  to  the  appellant  subject to the final outcome of the present Civil Appeal.”  

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4. The  learned  counsel  for  the  appellant  submits that  there  are  two  surviving  grievances,  one regarding  regularisation  and  other  regarding seniority.  As far as regularisation is concerned, at paragraphs 'j' and 'k', it is stated as follows :-

“(j)..........In  the  meantime, since there was no post of lecturer available  in  the  Visual  Arts Department of the University against which Dr. Abhinav Gupta could have been  regularised,  the  University approached the State Government for creation  of  a  post  of  lecturer  in the Department of Visual Arts in the pay scale of Rs. 8000-13500.  It was only  on  26.05.2004,  the  State Government communicated its decision for creation of a post of a lecturer in the Department of Visual Arts in the  University  w.e.f.  11.11.2003, the  date  of  the  judgment  of  the Hon'ble High Court in C.M.W.P. No. 34181 of 2003 in compliance of the order  passed  by  the  Hon'ble  High Court for Dr. Abhinav Gupta and it was specifically mentioned that the said  post  would  only  remain  in existence  as  long  as  Dr.  Abhinav Gupta  was  in  the  University  and thereafter,  the  post  should automatically  cease  to exist.........

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k. After  the  aforesaid  sanction from  the  State  Government  for creation of a post of lecturer for Dr. Abhinav Gupta, the services of Dr.  Gupta  were  regularised  as lecturer  in  the  pay  scale  of  Rs. 8000-13500  w.e.f.  11.11.2003  vide University  order  dated  28.05.2004. A sum of Rs. 73,482/- was paid to the Appellant towards arrears w.e.f. 11.11.2003 till the date of order of regularisation dated 28.05.2004.  In the  meantime,  Dr.  Abhinav  Gupta filed  Contempt  Petition  before  the Hon'ble  High  Court  for non-compliance  of  the  order  dated 11.11.2003 and claiming more than 18 lakhs rupees as arrears for payment from  the  date  of  his  initial appointment as a guest lecturer in the Department of Visual Arts of the Allahabad  University.   The  Hon'ble High Court on 28.05.2004 passed an order  in  the  aforesaid  contempt proceedings giving an opportunity to the University authorities to comply with the order dated 29.07.2004 or obtain suitable interim order in the pending Special Leave Petition filed against  the  order  dated 11.11.2003........”  

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5. As far as the seniority is concerned, it will depend on regularisation.

6. Being a contempt jurisdiction, we are not quite sure as to whether there are any affected parties in the department.  Therefore, this appeal is disposed of as follows :- i) In case the appellant has any surviving grievance with regard to his date of regularisation, it will be open  to  him  to  file  an  appropriate  representation before the Vice-Chancellor of the University. ii) It  will  also  be  open  to  him  to  raise  his grievance  regarding  the  seniority  as  well.   The representation is permitted to be filed within one month  from  today.   In  the  event  of  filing  the representation within one month from today, we direct the Vice-Chancellor of the University to consider the representation  and  pass  orders  on  merits  on  the representation  after  affording  an  opportunity  of hearing to the appellant and any other person who is likely to be affected.  The orders, as above, shall be passed by the Vice-Chancellor within three months from the date of receipt of the representation.

7. According  to  the  learned  counsel  for  the appellant,  all  the  controversies  regarding appointment and regularisation have been settled by

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Judgments.  If that be so, the settled position will be  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Vice-Chancellor and  he  will  necessarily  take  appropriate  decision having regard to the settled position.

No costs.    .......................J.

             [ KURIAN JOSEPH ]  

.......................J.               [ R. BANUMATHI ]  

New Delhi; August 09, 2017.

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ITEM NO.103               COURT NO.6               SECTION III-A                S U P R E M E  C O U R T  O F  I N D I A                        RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Civil Appeal  No(s).  2198/2006 DR. ABHINAV GUPTA                                      Appellant(s)                                 VERSUS PROF. G.K. MEHTA ERSTWHILE VICE CHANCELLOR UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD                Respondent(s) [PERMISSION TO FILE ANNEXURES] [FOR EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.] Date : 09-08-2017 These matters were called on for hearing today. CORAM :  HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KURIAN JOSEPH          HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE R. BANUMATHI For Appellant(s) Mr. R. C. Shukla, Adv.  

Dr. Vinod Kumar Tewari, AOR Mr. Vivek Tiwari, Adv.  Mr. Satyam Pandey, Adv.  Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Adv.  Mr. Pramod Tiwari, Adv.  

                   For Respondent(s) Mr. Debasis Misra, AOR (Not Present)                      

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following                              O R D E R

The  appeal  is  disposed  of  in  terms  of  the  signed non-reportable Judgment.

Pending interlocutory applications, if any, stand disposed of.

(JAYANT KUMAR ARORA)                            (SUMAN JAIN)   COURT MASTER     COURT MASTER

(Signed non-reportable Judgment is placed on the file)