BRATPAL MANDAL Vs. LT GOVERNOR DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are 40 language teachers in Schools in Delhi and joined service in the various High Schools of Delhi between 1st September, 1959 and 21st August, 1964. Respondents 3 to 71 are also language teachers who joined service much earlier than the petitioners.

(2.) The petitioners claim that they were recruited to posts created for teaching language in higher classes in High Schools, i.e., classes IX and X. Graduation was an essential qualification for being recruited to these posts and all of them being graduates were fitted in these posts. They contend that respondents 3 to 71 were recruited to posts created for teaching language mainly in Middle Schools (i.e. Schools going upto Class VIII) and some possibly in the Middle Department of High Schools. They contend that the work of teaching language to Higher Classes is different and superior to the work of teaching language to Middle Classes and that is why graduation was an essential qualification for the former and not for the latter and the payscale for the former was higher than for the latter. On this premise, they say that the petitioners were in a higher grade i.e. Grade II whereas the respondents 3 to 71, none of whom was graduate, were recruited to posts in Grade III. They, therefore, claim that their seniority has to be reckoned Grade-wise and for the purposes of calculating seniority on the basis of length of service the incumbents of these two grades cannot be mixed together.

(3.) As against this, respondents contend that the nature of work of teaching language is common and, therefore, posts held by them and pots held by the petitioners were created for work of the same nature and were posts in one Grade and that this grade had two scales. the higher being available to graduates like the petitioners and lower being available to them. They further claim that at any rate on the unification of the two prevailing pay-scales in 1970, all language teachers came into one Grade and then their inter-se seniority has to be calculated on the basis of the length of service as language teachers. If this is done, respondents having joined service earlier would be senior to the petitioners.