R.S. MADIREDDY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The present appeals are filed challenging the common impugned judgment and order dtd. 20/9/2022 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Bombay thereby dismissing four writ petitions instituted by the appellants being the former employees of respondent No.3 i.e. Air India Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'AIL') as members of its cabin crew force. Appellants came to be employed in AIL in the late 1980s and all of them retired between 2016 and 2018.

(3.) Writ Petition Nos. 123 of 2014 (Filed on 30/8/2013) and 844 of 2014 (Filed on 9/10/2014) were filed for alleged stagnation in pay and non-promotion of the employees. Writ Petition No. 844 of 2014 additionally raised issues of anomalies in the fixation of pay arising out of and for implementation of the report of the Justice Dharmadhikari Committee (Constituted by the respondent No.1 i.e. Union of India(through its Ministry of Civil Aviation) to harmonize the differential service conditions of AIL and Indian Airlines Ltd, which came to be merged). Writ Petition Nos. 1770 of 2011 (Filed on 14/6/2011) and 1536 of 2013 (Filed on 19/3/2013), pertained to the delay in payment of wage revision arrears and the withdrawal of eight out of the seventeen allowances already paid to the employees retrospectively. In each of the writ petitions, violation of Articles 14, 16, and 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950, was pleaded. The Division Bench of Bombay High Court, vide common judgment and order dtd. 20/9/2022 disposed of the above writ petitions denying relief as claimed therein on the ground of non-maintainability of the writ petitions owing to the intervening event of privatisation of respondent No. 3(AIL). Nevertheless, liberty was granted to the employee petitioners to seek their remedies in accordance with law.