H SANNEY Vs. INDIAN AIRLINES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The grievance that is raised by the petitioner in the form of the present writ petition revolves around denial of the benefit of the principle of "Equal Pay for Equal Work' to the petitioner for the nature of duties which the petitioner had performed as Chief Instructuress in the Cabin Crew Training School which were similar with that of the Head of the Institute of Commercial Training Centre and Management Training Centre, and who were paid a higher Grade. The other relief that is sought for by the petitioner in this writ petition is a time-bound promotion to the petitioner like all other employees who had worked in the Indian Airlines for removing stagnation which the petitioner had to suffer during her long 26 years of service.

(2.) The petitioner joined the Indian Airlines in the year 1963, when she was entrusted with the duties and responsibilities of raising a training centre for the Cabin Crew on All India basis Comprehensive syllabic for initial, refresher and orientation for the purpose of imparting training to the Air Hostesses appointed to the. Indian Airlines. The petitioner, competently established the said training centre and continued to impart training courses to the various Air Hostesses recruited in the Indian Airlines and also conducted refresher and orientation courses for the Cabin Crew in service and Chief and Senior Cabin Crew, respectively.

(3.) At the time when the petitioner filed this writ petition, she was 55 years of age and was due to retire in the year 1989 and as a matter of fact, the petitioner retired from service in the month of August 1989 after 26 years of service as Chief Instructuress in the said Cabin Crew Training School. According to the petitioner, the petitioner was one of the very few officers in the Corporation who had not had the benefit of a single promotion during her entire continuous career spent over 26 years and many who had joined later than the petitioner in junior posts were enjoying higher Grades. The petitioner submitted several representations to the respondents and in fact certain recommendations were also made by the Head of the Department, namely. The Director of Operations, recommending that the posts at the Cabin Crew Training School be upgraded since some of the Officers had reached top of the Grade. One of such recommendation is on the record which is dated 13.10.1978. Inspite of the aforesaid representations submitted by the petitioner on the basis of which recommendations were also made by the Competent Authority suggesting upgradation of the post of the Officers in the Cabin Crew Training School, no effective steps were taken by the respondents for such upgradation and to give, either time bound promotion or upgrading the post and hence the present writ petition.