STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. NATWARLAL BABALDAS PATEL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the Letters Patent Appeal, the order of the learned single Judge in Special Civil Application No. 878 of 1984 is being put in issue The respondents in the Special Civil Application have preferred this Letters Patent Appeal. The petitioner in the Special Civil Application is the respondent herein. For the sake of convenience, we are referring to the parties as per their array in the Special Civil Application.

(2.) The petitioner was appointed as a Librarian and he was posted as Librarian at D. K. V. College, Jamnagar. The proceedings in this behalf are dated 7-12-1970. On 16-3-1971, the petitioner was posted as Librarian at R. G. T. College, Porbandar. On 21-1-1972, the petitioner was posted as Librarian, District Library, Rajkot. On 24-7-1980, the petitioner was posted as Librarian, A. M. P. College, Rajkot. Earlier, the pay scale for the Librarian was Rs. 425-700/-. However, by Government Resolution dated 6-10-1979, there was a revision of the pay scale of Librarian from Rs. 425-700/- to Rs. 550-900/-. The revision of pay scale was made effective from 1-1-1973. The petitioner was denied the benefit of the revision of the pay scale from 1-1-1973 to 30-7-1980, during which period, he was working in District Library. The petitioner approached this Court, impugning the decision denying the benefit of the revision of the pay scale for the above period.

(3.) The learned single Judge, who dealt with the Special Civil Application, adverted to the fact that there was no reply filed on behalf of the respondents controverting the case of the petitioner, when he coveted the benefit of the revision of the pay scale. The learned single Judge accepted two significant factual features for the purpose of according reliefs to the petitioner. One is, that the post of Librarian in a College and the post of Librarian in a District Library are equivalent and are inter-transferable; and the second is that the duties of both the posts are similar and identical. Thus, finding a warrant for applying the principle of "equal pay for equal work", the learned single Judge allowed the Special Civil Application and directed the respondents to grant the petitioner the benefit of the revised pay scale for the period in question.