S C CHANDRA Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The facts of the case have been stated in the judgment of my learned brother Hon'ble A.K. Mathur, J. which I have perused. I respectfully agree with him that these appeals deserve to be dismissed. However, I am writing a separate concurrent judgment since I am of the view that the principle of equal pay for equal work needs to be clarified.

(2.) The principle of equal pay for equal work was propounded by this Court in certain decisions in the 1980s, e.g. Dhirendra Chamoli and another vs. State of U.P. (1986) 1 SCC 637, Surinder Singh vs. Engineer-in-Chief, C.P.W.D. (1986) 1 SCC 639, Randhir Singh vs. Union of India (1982) 1 SCC 618 etc. This was done by applying Articles 14 and 39(d) of the Constitution. Thus, in Dhirendra Chamoli's case (supra) this Court granted to the casual, daily rated employees the same pay scale as regular employees.

(3.) It appears that subsequently it was realized that the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work was creating havoc. All over India different groups were claiming parity in pay with other groups e.g. Government employees of one State were claiming parity with Government employees of another State.