2023:UHC:7121 SL. No. Date Office Notes, reports, orders or proceedings or directions and Registrar’s order with Signatures COURT’S OR JUDGE’S ORDERS WPSS No. 1810 of 2022 With WPSS No. 1861 of 2022 WPSS No. 1863 of 2022 WPSS No. 1869 of 2022 WPSS No. 1870 of 2022 Hon’ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J 1. Mr. M.K. Chand, learned counsel for the petitioners. 2. Mr. Narayan Dutt, learned Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand. 3. Since common questions of fact and law are involved in these petitions, therefore, these petitions are clubbed together and decided by this common judgment. However, for the sake of brevity and convenience, facts of WPSS No. 1810 of 2022 alone are being considered and discussed. 4. Writ Petition (S/S) No. 1810 of 2022 has been filed by sixteen persons who are serving as Assistant Teacher/Head Teacher in different Primary School & Government Junior High School in District Champawat. 5. Petitioners were given benefit of Government Order dated 01.03.2009 issued by Principal Secretary (Finance), Government of Uttarakhand and their pay scale was upgraded. The upgraded pay scale, given in terms of Government Order dated 01.03.2009, is now being sought to be recovered from the petitioners on the ground that it was wrongly paid to them and petitioners were not entitled to the said benefit. Thus, feeling aggrieved, petitioners have 2023:UHC:7121 approached this Court seeking the following reliefs:- (i) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order dated 04.08.2012 passed by Director Elementary Education Uttarakhand Dehradun (Annexure no. 10) and order dated 20.08.2022 (Annexure-11) passed by District Education Officer (Elementary) Champawat. (ii) Issue a writ or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding and directing the respondents authorities to grant minimum pay scale i.e. Rs. 17140/- to the petitioners as per 6th Pay Commission from the respective dates of their promotion. 6. Petitioners had earlier filed writ petitions challenging the decision taken by Director that petitioners hold Group ‘B’ posts, thus are not entitled to protection against recovery of excess payment made to them. Their writ petitions were allowed by this Court, vide judgment dated 09.05.2022 rendered in WPSS No. 1908 of 2019 and other connected petitions; the order passed by Director, Primary Education dated 01.02.2019 was set aside by holding that as per the Service Rules, Teachers of Government Primary School & Government Junior High School, including Head Teachers, are Group ‘C’ employees and the matter was relegated to Director, Primary Education to reconsider the issue. 7. Pursuant to the judgment dated 09.05.2022 passed by this Court, Director, Primary Education has passed another order dated 04.08.2022, wherein it is reiterated that due to promotion and/or grant of selection grade / promotion pay scale, Teachers of Government Primary School and Government Junior High School get pay 2023:UHC:7121 scale equivalent or more than Group ‘B’ employees of the State Government, therefore, petitioners cannot be treated as Group ‘C’ employee. 8. Learned counsel for petitioners is right in submitting that Director cannot sit in judgment over the decision of this Court rendered in WPSS No. 1908 of 2019, where it was held that teachers serving in such schools are holding Group ‘C’ post. 9. Learned counsel for the petitioners further submits that it is nobody’s case that petitioners played fraud or they were in any manner instrumental in getting excess payment; he submits that whatever amount was paid to petitioners was as per the Government Policy, therefore, State Government cannot now recover the amount paid to petitioners at the fag end of their service career. 10. Learned counsel for the petitioners relied upon a judgment rendered by this Court in the case of WPSS No. 335 of 2023 and submitted that since the issue involved in this batch of writ petitions has been dealt with in the said judgment, therefore, these writ petitions deserve to be decided in terms of the judgment dated 18.09.2025 rendered in WPSS No. 335 of 2023 & other connected matters. 11. Learned State Counsel concedes that since the issue involved is common, therefore, these writ petitions can be decided in terms of said judgment. 12. Accordingly, the writ petitions are decided in terms of judgment dated 18.09.2025 rendered in WPSS No. 335 of 2023:UHC:7121 2023. It is made clear that this Court has not expressed any opinion on the re- fixation of pay of the petitioners and Departmental Authorities shall be at liberty to re-fix the pay of petitioners at the appropriate level, as per applicable Government Policy/Rules. (Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J) 09.10.2025 Aswal NITI RAJ SINGH ASWAL Digitally signed by NITI RAJ SINGH ASWAL DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, 2.5.4.20=eacc6757ee7881e933ff8934f07477005aa85f9802a3a08b08d136951 2ea30f3, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND, serialNumber=44EB54CBF00B7698CB6F10C2CE3D26F5C22DACF4F4610C1FE 58A58531726FBB0, cn=NITI RAJ SINGH ASWAL Date: 2025.10.09 07:05:45 -07'00'