BEL TECHNICAL CADRE Vs. MANAGEMENT OF BEL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) First petitioner, claims to be an association comprising of BEL technical cadre represented by its president and the second petitioner, who is the organizing secretary of first petitioner-association, a technician, have presented these writ petitions against the first respondent management of BEL represented by its chairman and managing director and the second respondent government of India.

(2.) Petitioners have approached this court, purporting to espouse the cause of such employees of BEL who were hitherto working as workman in wage group-X and promoted to the cadre of TC-1. The grievance of the petitioners is that such of those employees who were working in wage group-X in the workmen category, having been promoted to TC-1 cadre, which is a supervisory cadre, though got promotions, nevertheless, on such promotion their overall emoluments are now sought to be reduced in terms of OM dated 15-7-2010 [copy at Annexure-A to the writ petition] and further clarification dated 21-12-2010 [copy at Annexure-B to the writ petition] purporting to be by way of an illustration of the manner of implementation or working of Annexure-A.

(3.) Petitioners have approached this court, purporting to be aggrieved by the provisions in Annexure-A and B to the extent they have the effect of reducing the total emoluments of the workmen promoted as supervisors and also reducing their basic pay on promotion, in the sense that the increments earned on the basic pay while working as workmen are now being reduced on promotion by their fitment into the starting point of the pay scale in the promoted cadre. Under such circumstances, contending that such pay fixation and revision as per Annexure-A and B is in violation of the principles of natural justice and promotion of persons like second petitioner suffers the anomaly of getting less emoluments and in the entire industry, employees are enjoyed additional increments and denying such benefit to the second petitioner, who has, though, been promoted to TC-1 amounts to discrimination; that the assurance on promotion of persons like the second petitioner has been belied; that the reduction in the basic pay is due to withdrawal of additional increments which were being added to the basic salary in workmen cadre; that the management has no right to reduce the basic pay of the promoted workmen on being promoted to TC-1 cadre; that the future increments though earned by the second petitioner in TC-1 cadre has been withheld and therefore the prayer as under sought for in the petition should be granted in favour of the petitioners: