38-WP-3134-2026.doc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIRCUIT BENCH AT KOLHAPUR CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 3134 OF 2026 Nivas Dnyandeo Kamble And Others. 47 ...Petitioners. Versus The State Of Maharashtra Thr. Secretary Rural Development And Water Conservation Dept. And Others ...Respondents. —————— Mr. Sandeep B. Sontakke for the Petitioners. Mr. N. C. Walimbe, Addl. GP a/w Ms. Tejas J. Kapre AGP for the Respondent-State. Adv. Twinkal Kotawadekar i/b Pankaj Deokar for Respondent Nos. 2 & 3. —————— Coram : Sharmila U. Deshmukh & Neeraj P. Dhote, JJ. Date : September 24, 2026. P. C. : 1. By the present petition, the petitioners are seeking directions to the respondents to release/grant one additional increment in view of the circular dated 12th December, 2000 issued by the Government of Maharashtra. 2. It is pleaded that the Government, in order to encourage the teachers working at Zilla Parishads, decided to grant National Awards, State Awards, and District Awards to the teachers. By circular dated 12th December, 2000, the State Government issued guidelines and directed the grant of one additional increment to the district teacher awardees, Harish 1 of 3 2026:BHC-KOL:9218-DB 38-WP-3134-2026.doc excluding their regular increment. 3. The petitioners claim to be the district awardees and have approached this Court being aggrieved by the withdrawal of the said additional increment vide Government circular dated 4th September, 2018. 4. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners would submit that the Government circular dated 4th September, 2018 taking away the benefit of one increment will not apply to the petitioners, as they had received the awards before the issuance of the circular of 4th September, 2018, which cannot apply retrospectively. He would further point out the decision of this Court delivered at the Aurangabad Bench in Urmila Pratapsingh Gaikwad And Others vs. State of Maharashtra And Others ;[passed on 25th January, 2019 in WP No. 1954 of 2018 along with connected matter], which covers the issue in hand. 5. The petitioners claim to be district awardees prior to the issuance of the Government circular dated 4th September 2018, by which the conferment of an additional increment to the National, State, and District awardee teachers was withdrawn by the Government. It is specifically claimed by the petitioners that they are district awardees prior to the issuance of the Government circular dated 4th September, 2018, and therefore, they would be governed by the circular dated 12th December, 2000. The Government circular dated 4th September, 2018 Harish 2 of 3 38-WP-3134-2026.doc cannot be applied retrospectively. The issue is no longer res integra and is squarely covered by the decision in the case of Urmila Pratapsingh Gaikwad (supra). 6. In light of the above, the following order is passed: ORDER i. The respondent-Zilla Parishad, after verifying that the petitioners are district awardee teachers and have been awarded certificates prior to 4th September, 2018, shall grant the additional increment in accordance with the Government circular dated 12th December, 2000 expeditiously, and in any event within a period of eight weeks from today. ii. The petition is allowed in the above terms. [Neeraj P. Dhote, J.] [Sharmila U. Deshmukh, J.] Harish 3 of 3