1. ' MUHAMMAD AFZAL ZULLAH,-- This appeal through leave of the Court is directed against the acceptance by the Service Tribunal of the respondent's appeal. The controversy involved was regarding the payment of a special allowance to the respondent known as "Secretariat Allowance."
2. ' After some arguments the emerging factual position, is that the respondent was from the very beginning inducted in the Secretariat Service. At present he is on deputation serving on a post which again admittedly is not a Secretariat post/service. It is also admitted that he is receiving the deputation allowance but according to him the said allowance is much less than the benefit he was getting on account of the Secretariat allowance which he and his counsel have described as a part of the pay and emoluments of the respondent and not merely an allowance.
3. ' The learned Advocate-General has referred to the letter dated 16-4-1987 issued by the Government of Pakistan wherein it is stated that "special allowance is not admissible in the event of transfer outside the Secretariat". He also referred to a letter of the Government of N.-W.F.P. Dated 22-2-1989 which reads as follows:- "According to the decision of the Federal Government the Special Allowance is not admissible in the event of transfer outside the Secretariat. Therefore this department regrets its inability to allow the same to the officer during his deputation period in the Borrowing Organization."
4. Accordingly the respondent having been denied the payment of what is called as special Secretariat Allowance he filed an appeal before the Tribunal which was allowed. Leave to appeal was granted to the Government for examination of the point; whether, the respondent was entitled to what he described as special pay in the above-noted circumstances.
5. ' This appeal has been heard at length. The practice of opting out, of the Secretariat by officers like the respondent for assignments which are otherwise also, beneficial also came under serious discussion. Ultimately the learned Advocate-General agreed with the proposition that the respondent who, it seems, was the only person at present receiving two allowances--one Secretariat and the other deputation (under the orders of the Service Tribunal) would be reverted to the Secretariat. That being so, no dispute thus remained to be resolved and this appeal stood disposed of.
6. However, in order to make it further clear so as to avoid any future complication in this case, it needs to be noticed that the reliance of the learned counsel for the respondent on second proviso to section 10 of the N.-W.F.P. Civil Servants Act, 1973 is of no help to the respondent. It is provided therein, that "where a civil servant is required to serve in a post outside his service or cadre, his terms and conditions of service as to his pay shall not be less favourable than those to which he would have been entitled if he had not been so required to serve." Learned counsel thought that the Secretariat Allowance in the N.-W.F.P. Which is subject-matter of dispute in this appeal is not an allowance but is a part of the respondent's pay. The learned Advocate-General vehemently contested this position. He seems to be right because the pay has been defined to mean "the amount drawn monthly by civil servant as pay, and includes special pay, personal pay, and any other emoluments declared by the prescribed authority to be pay." In this case undoubtedly the Provincial Government which is the competent authority has not declared the Secretariat allowance as part of the pay of the respondent. Otherwise too the definition does not seem to convey a general sense applicable in every case that all allowances or any particular allowance would be treated as a part of the pay. It might depend in each case on the circumstances thereof.
7. In this case it seems correct that the allowance granted to the respondent was not a part of the pay as defined in the Act. Therefore, the view expressed otherwise in the impugned judgment cannot be upheld. This appeal with the foregoing observations stands thus disposed of.