UTTAR PRADESH PARIVAR KALYAN SWASTHYA SAHAYAK SANGH AND ANOTHER Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are the two petitions one by an Association of Family Planning Health Assistants, and, the other by a Family Planning Health Assistant in his individual capacity, for issue of a writ of certiorari to quash the Government Orders dated 19 -10 -1983 and 23 -7 -1981, which are Annexures -4 and 3 respectively in the petition of the Association. The petitioners have also prayed for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to designate the members of the Association and the other individual petitioner, as Heath Supervisors and to pay to them the salary and allowances, permissible under the Multipurpose Scheme to the Supervisors. Involving common issues, both the writ petitions are consolidated and are disposed of by a common judgment The facts in both the writ petitions are common and, therefore, it will suffice to state the facts from the petition of the Association of Health Assistants (for short the petitioners). There were various posts, for example, Basic Health Worker House Visitor, Small Pox Supervisor, Family Planning Health Assistant Health Inspector, Surveillance Inspector, Vaccinator, etc. in the Medical Health and Family Planning Department of the State of Uttar Pradesh until 23 -7 -1981. With a view to bringing several posts under the umbrella of a single cadre, the U.P. Government created a cadre, known as Multipurpose Worker Scheme, vide G.O. dated 23 -7 -1981 (Annexure -3 to the writ petition of the Association). Different posts of the Family Planning Department were integrated into the said Single Cadre and after integration there remained only two posts -one higher and the other lower. The higher post is manned by Health Supervisor and the lover post was given to Health Worker. The petitioners were given the status of lower post of Health Worker in the unified cadre. The grievance of the petitioners is that they have better qualifications than the Health Supervisors: that they are in service for a longer time than the Health Supervisors; that there was no distinction between their duties and the duties of the Health Supervisors and that the pay scale of the petitioners as well as of the Health Supervisors was the same in the posts. After the creation of the Single Cadre, the pay scales of the two categories, namely, the Health Workers and the Health Supervisors, were fixed by the Government Order dated 19 -10 -1983 (Annexure 4 to the Writ Petition). Before integration, the pay scale of Family Planning Health Assistants was Rs. 230 -385, which was revised by the Government Order dated 25 -10 -1982, with effect from 1 -7 -1979 to Rs. 400 -615. By the Government Order dated 19 -10 -1983 (Annexure 4 to the writ petition), the grade of Health Assistants was fixed at Rs. 354 -550. However, the petitioners were not denied the higher revised grade of Rs. 400 -615. The new lower grade of Rs. 354 -550 was to be given to the new entrants. The contention of the petitioners is that by Annexure 3, the grade of the Health Assistants was lowered from the revised grade of Rs. 400 -615 to Rs. 354 -55. The contention of the petitioners is that they have been discriminated against, Small Pox Supervisors, Surveillance Inspectors and Health Inspectors, who were designated under the new scheme of Health Supervisors, as they have been placed in a higher grade of Rs. 470 -735. The discrimination in point of pay scale is said to be violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India, arbitrary and irrational. The petitioners, therefore, pray for quashing the Government Orders dated 20 -7 -1981 and 9 -10 -1983, Annexure 3 and 4 to the writ petition respectively.

(2.) A Counter -Affidavit has been sworn by a clerk of the respondent No. 3. It is deposed in the Counter -affidavit that with a view to having more co -ordination and cohesion in different wings of the department, and with a view to improving the services of the Family Planning personnel, the Multipurpose Worker Scheme was introduced on the direction of the Central Government. It is also deposed in paragraph 12 of the counter -affidavit that the three categories, namely, Small Pox Supervisors, Surveillance Inspectors and Health Inspectors, merged into the rank of Health Supervisors, as they possessed supervisory experience, and, therefore, they stood on a different footing from the petitioners. It is said that the Health Assistants were of two types, junior and senior. Whereas the former were non -Graduate, the latter were graduates and higher grade of Rs. 470 -735 was given to the Senior Health Assistants. The case of the respondents is that the supervisory duties could be assigned only to the Senior Health Assistants and not to the petitioners.

(3.) IT is stated in Paragraph 11 of the writ petition, whereas the post of Small Pox Supervisor, who has now been designated as Health Supervisor, was created in the year 1972, the post of Family Planning Health Assistant was created in the year 1965 It is stated that most of the petitioners have been in service from the very inception and so they are much senior to the Small Pox Supervisors, who became Health Supervisors. Annexure 3 dated 23 -7 -1981, whereby the petitioners were appointed, shows that the Surveillance Inspector, Small Pox Supervisor, Malaria inspector etc. were in the grade of Rs. 230 -382, meaning thereby a pre -revised grade of Family Planning Health Assistants. Whereas, the petitioners have been equated with Basic Health Worker, House Visitors, Vaccinator having the grade of Rs. 185 -265 185, 265 and Rs. 172 -205 respectively, the Small Pox Supervisor, Surveillance Inspectors etc. who were in the grade of Health Assistants, have been placed in the higher grade of Health Supervisors. The argument is that the persons who were in the same pre -revised pay scale, that was given to the Health Assistants, have been placed in the higher category of Health Supervisors and the petitioners have been excluded from that category arbitrarily. To show that the petitioners also discharged supervisory duties in the post, our attention was drawn to pages 44 to 48, which enumerate the 'duties of the staff in integrated Health Set -up.' On page 48, item No. 4 bears the caption. 'Family Planning and Health Assistants' and their duties are described as follows: - -