Shimla, July 25 -- The Himachal Pradesh high court (HC) has held that the deduction of pension from the salary of a retired HC judge subsequently appointed as chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal (HPAT) is impermissible under law. The decision came in a writ petition filed by Justice VK Sharma (retd), challenging the state's repeated deduction of his pension from the fixed salary he was entitled to draw as HPAT chairman. Citing a Supreme Court judgement, the HC held, "Since the Apex Court, in a catena of judgments, has held that judges cannot be considered as government employees, the service conditions of the chairman and members of the administrative tribunals shall be the same as applicable to the judges of the HC." The court allowed the petition and held that the deduction of Rs.4.8 lakh per annum-being the pension received for his prior service as a HC judge-was "wholly impermissible in law." As per the petitioner, he was appointed the chairman of the reconstituted HPAT on December 29, 2014, by the President of India, under Section 4(2) of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985. His fixed salary was notified as Rs.80,000 per month, as per prevailing norms, which was later revised to Rs.2.25 lakh per month. He took charge on February 27, 2015. However, the department of personnel, Government of Himachal Pradesh, through an office order dated April 13, 2015, fixed his salary after deducting the pension he was already receiving as a retired HC judge. Justice Sharma challenged this deduction, contending that the post of HPAT chairman was a fresh constitutional appointment and not a case of "reemployment," and therefore, his pension could not be adjusted against the salary. While allowing the petition, the court quashed all departmental orders from 2015 to 2019 that had fixed the chairman's salary "minus pension" and directed the state to comply with the original appointment order, treating the pay as fixed and undeducted....