Denial of annual increment to government servant merely because of his retirement on next day is unjustified

Director (Admn. and HR) KPTCL & Ors. Vs C.P. Mundinamani & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)

Supreme Court held that the annual increment to a government servant which he has earned for the services he has rendered over a specified period subject to his good behavior cannot be denied merely because of his retirement on the very next day.

Facts- The undisputed facts are that one day earlier than the retirement and on completion of one year service preceding the date of retirement all the employees earned one annual increment. However, taking into consideration Regulation 40(1) of the Karnataka Electricity Board Employees Service Regulations, 1997, which provides that an increment accrues from the day following that on which it is earned, the appellants denied the annual increment on the ground that the day on which the increment accrued the respective employees – original writ petitioners were not in service.

The writ petition(s) filed by the original writ petitioners claiming the annual increment came to be dismissed by the learned Single Judge. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court, the management – KPTCL has preferred the present appeal.

Conclusion- Held the increment is earned for rendering service with good conduct in a year/specified period. Therefore, the moment a government servant has rendered service for a specified period with good conduct, in a time scale, he is entitled to the annual increment and it can be said that he has earned the annual increment for rendering the specified period of service with good conduct. Therefore, as such, he is entitled to the benefit of the annual increment on the eventuality of having served for a specified period (one year) with good conduct efficiently. Merely because, the government servant has retired on the very next day, how can he be denied the annual increment which he has earned and/or is entitled to for rendering the service with good conduct and efficiently in the preceding one year.

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