In the case of C N Vasudevan v. Union of India decided on May 7, 2008, a Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Sema and Katju denied a Government Officer any honorarium or remuneration for taking on additional duties which could be performed within his normal working hours.

The issue in this case was whether C N Vasudevan, a Regional Passport Officer was entitled to the grant of honorarium/remuneration for the period he worked as Protector of Emigrants over and above his salary as Regional Passport Officer, Ahmedabad.

He had prayed to the Central Administrative Tribunal an honorarium for working as the Protector of Emigrants since the responsibilities of the Regional Passport Officer and are quite different. His prayer was allowed by the Tribunal. The High Court, by its impugned order, affirmed the order of the tribunal.

Hence, this appeal was made by special leave to the Supreme Court.

The counter affidavit filed on behalf of the Regional Passport Officer, Ahmedabad before the Tribunal states that in all 14 Passport Officers were authorised to perform the functions of Protector of Emigrants so as to decide whether a person intending to depart from India is an emigrant or not for the purpose of Emigration Act, 1983. The duties of Protector of Emigrant were part of the normal duty of the Regional Passport Officer and were to be performed by the Regional Passport Officer during the normal office hours on working days only.

The Supreme Court agreed with this contention. It then gave an analogous example: the District Magistrate/Collector of a district is often also the prescribed authority under various State and Central Acts for discharging functions under the said Acts. This does not entitle the District Magistrate/Collector to any extra remuneration over and above his normal salary.

(This post is an edited extract of the judgment.)