Problems of judicial officers; Gauhati High Court asks Principal AG to file affidavit

GUWAHATI: Hearing a case – WP© (Suo Moto) 2/2020) – the bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana of the Gauhati High Court has asked the Principal Accountant General (A and E), Assam to file a detailed affidavit to show cause as to why the reliefs as prayed for and/or why any other appropriate relief should not be granted to the judicial officers of Assam.

The suo moto writ petition was registered on the basis of representation on August 10, 2020 submitted by the Assam Judicial Service Association (AJSA) regarding non-issuance of pay slips, leave credit statements, etc., to the judicial officers in a time-bound manner.

In its order issued recently, the bench of the High Court directed the Principal Accountant General (A and E), Assam to provide detailed information to the Court with effect from January 1, 2017 till date regarding (a) the dates on when communication was received by this office about appointment of new judicial officers; (b) the dates on which his office received communications from the registry of this court about transfer and posting of judicial officers; (c) the dates on which his office has received information about promotion and promotional posting of judicial officers; (d) the corresponding dates on which his office had issued pay-slips, etc.; (e) the standing instructions and/ or standard operating procedure in force, if any, in his establishment regarding time within which the pay-slips, etc. is required to be made ready and communicated to the judicial officer concerned; and (f) whether any e-mail address has been notified in the Gazette, wherein orders of appointment, transfer, posting, promotion of judicial officers of the State is required to be sent in lieu of hard copy.

The High Court further said that as it is observed that this issue is affecting an entire class of officers serving in the State, the Accountant General (A&E) shall ensure that his affidavit is filed within the time allowed .i.e. three weeks.

At the August 10, 2020 representation the judicial officers of the State said that they are facing a lot of problems with the office of the Principal Accountant General (A and E), Assam in matters relating to (i) the first pay-slip of newly appointed officers, (ii) pay slips to be issued on transfer to another station/ place of posting, (iii) incremental pay-slips, (iv) promotional pay-slips, (V) annual GPF statements, (vi) missing subscriptions in GPF, (vii) leave admissibility report and (viii) pension documents and pension payment orders. The writ has been listed for the next hearing on September 8, 2020.

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