STATE OF U.P. Vs. MOHD. RAMJAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This intra-court appeal has been filed against the judgment and order dated 12.12.2018 passed by the learned Single Judge in Writ A No. 5163 of 2003 by which the writ petition filed by the respondents has been allowed and a direction has been issued to the state-authorities (the appellants herein) to treat the writ petitioners at par with other Instructors and place them in pay scale of Rs. 5,000-8,000 with all consequential benefits.

(2.) Before we proceed to address the arguments raised in this appeal, it would be apposite for us to have a glimpse of the facts of the case.

(3.) The writ petitioners (the respondents herein) were appointed as Instructor in Government Industrial Training Institute (for short GITI) in the year 1981 against the post of Wood Work Instructor. In the year 1989, the GITI was merged with Industrial Training Institute (for short ITI) as a consequence whereof the writ petitioners became employee of the ITI and they continued to work as Wood Craft Instructor. Prior to the merger, both the institutes, that is GITI and ITI, were under the Director, Training and Employment, Govt. of U.P., Lucknow (for short Director Training). Post merger also the institute (ITI) remained under the Director Training. However, an anomalous situation in respect of the pay scale of the Instructors arose. The writ petitioners who were from the GITI were maintained at the pay scale of Rs. 3200-4900 whereas the Instructors who had been appointed in the ITI were in the pay scale of Rs. 5000-8000. The writ petitioners claimed that post merger there existed just one class of Instructors in the ITI, regardless whether they came from GITI or had been, since before, in the ITI, therefore they were entitled to the same pay scale. It appears that prior to filing Writ A No. 5163 of 2003, the writ petitioners, seeking pay parity, had filed Writ A No. 6619 of 2002 in this Court which was disposed off, vide order dated 15.02.2002, with a direction to the authorities to consider and decide the representation of the writ petitioners made in that regard. Pursuant to the direction given in that writ petition, by order dated 29.11.2002, the Principal Secretary, Labour Department, on behalf of the State, took a decision that under the present set of service rules, as amended in the year 1994, there is no provision for enhancement/up-gradation in salary of an Instructor payable in the pay scale of Rs. 3200-4900 to that of Trade Instructor payable in the pay scale of Rs. 5000-8000 because the post of Trade Instructor is a post which is to be filled by direct recruitment and the eligibility qualifications of an Instructor are different from that of Trade Instructor and as such it is not legally permissible to place the writ petitioners, who were appointed as Instructors in the pay scale of Rs. 3200-4900, in the pay scale of Rs. 5000-8000 admissible to Trade Instructors.