CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has sought details on the status of representations submitted by employees of School and Mass Education department over grievances relating to pay fixation with effect from January 1, 2016 as per the Odisha Revised Scale of Pay Rules, 2017.
A single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi said, “Commissioner-cum-Secretary, School and Mass Education department shall also file an affidavit indicating the number of such representations pending before him/her, what is the standard operating procedure followed for deciding such representations and what is the time limit stipulated for deciding such representations or is it allowed to be kept pending for an indefinite period.”
Justice Panigrahi sought the affidavit while considering a petition filed by School and Mass Education department employee Kshetra Mohan Behera, which had sought the court’s intervention for sanction and release of the revised differential arrear salary in his favour.
The department had released the arrear in favour of Behera with effect from October 1, 2017 instead of January 1, 2016. He had filed representation seeking redressal of his grievance before the Commissioner-cum-Secretary, School and Mass Education department on December 31, 2021. But the same is still pending with him.
Taking note of it, Justice Panigrahi directed School and Mass Education department’s standing counsel Biswajit Mohanty to obtain instructions as to what step has been taken for disposal of the representation filed by the petitioner.
While fixing March 8 as the next date of hearing, Justice Panigrahi said, “The authority cannot sit over the representation inordinately. This approach of the authority smacks governance deficit and needs to be remedied immediately. The authority must fix a time limit for disposing of the representation of public employees. A robust grievance redressal mechanism will go a long way in de-clogging the arteries of our judicial system,” Justice Panigrahi observed in his February 16 order.
“The right to have speedy consideration of the representation by citizens forms an integral part of our public policy and citizen charter. This is an essential facet of the fundamental rights of the citizens,” Justice Panigrahi further observed.