In W.P.(MD) No.17863 of 2023, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court ruled that the principle of ‘no work no pay’ cannot be applied when an employee is not at fault and is unlawfully prevented from discharging official duties. The Court quashed the Tahsildar’s order denying salary and service regularization to petitioner C. Markandan, a former Village Administrative Officer, for the period from 01.02.2018 to 18.03.2019.
Case Background
C. Markandan was appointed as Village Thalaiyari in 1983 and promoted as Village Administrative Officer (VAO) in 2016. Due to an erroneous entry of his date of birth as 28.01.1958 instead of the correct 23.03.1961, he was prematurely retired on 30.04.2018. His request for correction of date of birth was initially rejected for being beyond the five-year time limit under service rules.
Markandan subsequently obtained a favorable order from the competent civil court in 2015, and a corrected birth certificate was issued. However, he was not reinstated until the Division Bench of the High Court, in WA(MD) No.147 of 2019 (judgment dated 05.03.2019), directed the authorities to recognize his correct date of birth and continue him in service. He was reinstated on 19.03.2019 and formally retired on 31.03.2019.
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