UNION OF INDIA Vs. MANOJ KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Indian Railways is the largest civilian employer in the country comprising of six production units and eighteen zones, with each zone having three to six divisions.(Indian Railways Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 pg. 6.) The total number of employees as on 31.03.2005 was stated to be about 14 lakh with the following distribution of staff strength: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_54_LAWS(SC)8_2021_1.html</FRM>

(2.) The Sixth Central Pay Commission ("6th CPC") report in chapter 7.36 deals with the Ministry of Railways and shows that it has fourteen departments, including the Railway Board. The report examined the demands of these different departments seeking higher pay-scales and allowances for various categories in different departments. We are concerned in the present matter with claims made by Private Secretaries (Grade-II) ("PS-II") employed in the Eastern Central Railways (Field Office/Zonal Railways),for parity in pay with their counterparts working in the Central Secretariat Stenographers Service ("CSSS")/Railway Board Secretariat Stenographers Service ("RBSSS")/Central Administrative Tribunal ("CAT"). We may note at this stage itself that there have been conflicting judicial views on the claim for such parity which we will come to later.

(3.) We may notice that the 6th CPC referred to the demands made by common category posts relating to certain cadres in the Ministry of Railways in para 7.36.95.One of the common category posts is that of "Typists and Stenographers". Thereafter, in para 7.36.96, it was observed that these common categories have been covered by the Commission elsewhere in the report. It was stated that the recommendations made therein shall apply in respect of the common category posts in the Ministry of Railways as well, there being no separate recommendations made for this category. In the aforesaid conspectus we have to turn to Chapter 3.1 of the report of the 6th CPC, which deals with "Headquarters Organisations in Government of India and Office Staff in field offices". The disparity between Secretariat and Field offices is set out in clauses 3.1.2 and 3.1.3, which read as under: