GUJARAT PWD DRAWING BRANCH ASSOCIATION Vs. SECRETARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this writ application under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India, the writ applicant, an Association of the Gujarat PWD Drawing Branch, through its General Secretary, Saurashtra Zone, has prayed for the following reliefs; "(A) This Honourable Court may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondents to give the members, who are working as Ferro Machine Operators/Ferro Printer Tracers, Assistant Draftsman, Draftsman and Head Draftsman, of the petitioner-Association, the pay scale on par with the respective and corresponding pay scale of Superintendent of Maps, Draftsman Grade-I, Draftsman Grade II, Draftsman Grade III of the Central Public Woks Department in the Central Government, with the arrears and with all incidental and consequential benefits. (B) Pending the hearing and final disposal of the petition, this Honourable Court may be pleased to direct the respondents to give the members, who are working as Ferro Machine Operators/Ferro Printer, Tracers, Assistant Draftsman, Draftsman and Head Draftsman of the petitioner-Association, the pay scale on par with the respective and corresponding pay scale of Superintendent of Maps, Draftsman Grade I, Draftsman Grade II, Draftsman Grade III of the Central Public Works Department in the Central Government, with the arrears and with all incidental and consequential benefits. (C) An ex parte ad-interim relief in terms of prayer (B) may kindly be granted. (D) And to pass such other and further orders as may be deemed just and proper."

(2.) The case, as pleaded by the writ applicants, in their own words, is as under; 2.1 The present writ petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India is directed against the discriminatory action on behalf of the respondents of not giving the members of the Petitioners-Association "equal pay for equal work". although educational qualification, nature and responsibility of work of the cadres of Ferro Machine Operators/Ferro Printer, Tracers, Assistant Draftsman, Draftsman and Head Draftsman are equivalent to the cadres of the Central Public Works Department under the Central Government. It is submitted that as far as the Central Public works Department is concerned, in the said department, the posts of Ferro Machine Operators/Ferro Printer are described as the post of Tracer and the post of Tracer is re-designated as post of Draftsman Grade- II. Thus, there are Four different posts in the Central Public Works Department, i.e. Superintendent of Maps. Draftsman Grader-I, Draftsman Grade-II and Draftsman Grade-III. It is submitted that, though educational qualification for recruitment to these posts in the Central Public Works Department and the similar posts in the Gujarat State Government is the same and the nature of work is also identical, the employees working under the Central Public Works Department are getting much much higher pay than the employees working in the Gujarat State Government. It is respectfully submitted that though the State Government has accepted the recommendations of the Fourth Pay Commission and implemented the same in the State of Gujarat, and when the Central Government has revised the pay scale of its employees working in these cadres, the State Government has not chosen to revise the pay scale of the employees working in the similar cadres in the State Government and, therefore, the petitioner-Association is constrained to file the present writ petition before this Honourable Court with a prayer. inter alia, to direct the respondents to remove the anomaly in their pay scales. 2.2 It is submitted that. at present. the pay-scale of the employees working in different cadres is as follows: Ferro Machine Opera tors/Ferro Printer Rs-800-1150 Tracer Rs.1150-1500 Assistant Draftsman Rs.1320-2040 Draftsman Rs.1400-2600 Head Draftsman Rs.1640-2900

(3.) Draftsman Grade III Rs.260-430 Rs. 1200-2040 Equivalent to pre-revised scale of Rs.330-500. 2.8 It is submitted that, as far as the work of Ferro Machine Operators/Ferro Printer is concerned, their work is more dangerous, because, in their work, they have to use ammonia for printing and developing. The said ammonia is injurious to health, It is submitted that in the Central Government, the said post of Ferro Machine Operator/Ferro Printer was re-designated as Tracers and re-designated as Draftsman Grade III and, at present, they are getting the pay in the pay-scale of Rs.1200-2040, while in the State Government the Ferro Machine Operators/Ferro Printer are getting the pay in the pay scale of Rs.80-1150. It is submitted that, similarly, other posts of Assistant Draftsman, Draftsman and Head Draftsman are also having the similar nature of work like Draftsman Grade II, Draftsman Grade I and Superintendent of Maps. In the Central Public Works Department in the Central Government. It is submitted that even the educational qualification for recruitment to these posts is also same and, therefore, the State Government ought to have considered the representation made by the petitioner-Association and ought to have granted them the pay scale equivalent to the pay scale given in the Central Public Works Department. Copies of the representations made by the petitioner-Association are annexed hereto and marked as Annexure D collectively. 2.9 It is respectfully submitted that, as per the recommendation of the Fourth Pay Commission and, thereafter, as per the Settlement in the arbitration proceedings, the Central Government has revised the payscale of Draftsmen Grade l, Draftsman Grade II, and Draftsman Grade III. Moreover the pay scale of Superintendent of Maps and Head Draftsman is also different in Center and in State. Despite this fact, the State government has not thought it fit to revise the pay scale of the employees working in different cadres in different cadres. It is submitted that the employees of the Central Public Works Department under the Central Government have got revised pay scale because they have approached the court, while the members of the petitioner- Association herein thought it fit to make representation to the State Government to redress their grievances peacefully, But, despite this fact, the State Government has treated the equals as unequal and created anomaly and discrimination which has not been removed despite representations made by the petitioner-Association and, therefore, the petitioner Association is constrained to approach this Honourable Court. 2.10 It is respectfully submitted that once the employees of similar cadres have got their pay scale revised, reasonableness, fairness and the mandate of Art. 14 of the Constitution of India requires that similar treatment of revision of pay scale ought to have been extended to the employees working in different cadres in the Design Sec. of the State Government. It is respectfully submitted that, as far as the revision of pay of Supervisor (now Additional Assistant Engineer) is concerned, since they have resorted to violent strike, their pay scale was got revised, but the members of the petitioner Association, who have thought it fit to redress their grievances peacefully, are not extended the benefit of revision in the pay scale and, therefore, the action of the respondents is arbitrary, illegal, discriminatory, based on extraneous and irrelevant considerations and violative of Articles 14, 16 and 390 of the Constitution of India, and, this Honourable Court, in exercise of its prerogative jurisdiction under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India, may be pleased to direct the respondents to remove the anomaly and equalize the pay scale of the petitioner-Association on par with the pay scale of Draftsman in the Central Public Works Department under the Central Government. 3 It appears that the issue raised in this writ application came to be considered by the Pay Anomaly Committee, constituted by the State Government. The Pay Anomaly Committee, in its report dated 10th May, 2000, recommended the following so far as the tracer is concerned; "The pay scale of this cadre was Rs. 1150 - 1500 from 1/1/86. Representation was made to make this pay scale equivalent to the Central Government i.e. Rs. 1200 - 2040. Moreover, such argument was made that as per the Gujarat State Service (Revision of Pay) Rules, 1998 pay scale of Rs. 3200 - 4900 has been fixed against pay scale of Rs. 975-1660, whereas pay scale of Rs. 3050- 4590 has been fixed against pay scale of Rs. 1150-1500; which is a anomaly. Moreover, the pay scale of this cadre was compared with the pay scale of Work Assistant cadre. Along with it, representation was also made that pay scale of Rs. 1200-2040 is given to the employees of other department who possess ITI certificate. The minimum education qualification of this cadre is SSC and Civil Draftsman Certificate and Estimating. The Committee does not accept the argument that pay scale equivalent to the cadres of the Central Government should be given. The Committee also does not accept the argument that two pay scales have become one due to clubbing and therefore, higher pay scale should be given in the other cadre. However, while comparing with the cadre of Work Assistant, the Committee has found that considering the educational qualification, recruitment rules, work, responsibilities etc relevant aspects, if Tracer cadre is not given the pay scale of Work Assistant, it will be a anomaly of pay scale. Therefore, the Committee recommends to grant pay scale of Rs. 1200-1800 to the Tracer cadre from 1/1/86."