SECRETARY, INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH (ICAR) & ORS Vs. IARI STENOGRAPHERS WELFARE ASSOCIATION & ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Secretary, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) (Petitioner No.1), the Secretary, Department of Agricultural and Research and Education (DARE) (Petitioner No.2), the Director, ICAR (Petitioner No.3) and the Secretary, Department of Expenditure (DOE), Ministry of Finance (MOF), Government of India (Petitioner No.4) have jointly filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India against the IARI Stenographer's Welfare Association (Respondent No.1) and six private Respondents each of whom were working as Private Secretaries (PSs) at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) Headquarters at Pusa in New Delhi challenging an order dated 1st July, 2014 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Principal Bench, New Delhi in OA No. 3763/2012.

(2.) By the impugned order the CAT disposed of the aforementioned application filed by the Respondents No.1 to 7 and directed the Petitioners to consider their claim for grant of grade pay of Rs. 4600/- and 4800/- in Pay Band-II (PB-II) and Rs. 5400/- in PB-III.

(3.) The background facts are that the ICAR is an autonomous organisation wholly funded by the Government of India. It is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1953. It is stated that there are 50 Research Institutions, 17 National Research Centres, 23 Directorates and Project Directorates and 6 National Bureaus and 4 Deemed Universities working under the ICAR, located all over the country. These agricultural research institutes and research centres are located at Port Blair, Bikaner, Cuttack, Avikanagar (Rajasthan), Almora (Uttarakhand) and elsewhere.