JATINDER KUMAR SOOD Vs. BHAKRA BEAS MANAGEMENT BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are employees of Bhakra Beas Management Board (for short, 'BBMB'), who had been in the category of work-charged Welders posts since the year 1967 and served as such at a scale of Rs.span 105-180. The scales have been revised in the year 1978 at Rs.span 150-180. It is still later increased to Rs.span 400-600. In the year 1993, it is claimed by the petitioners that the first respondent decided to convert the work-charged post as regular posts and as a measure of policy, it was decided that they would be paid the same scales as are admissible to the corresponding regular employees in Punjab State Electricity Board (for short, 'PSEB'). For those categories of posts which did not exist in PSEB, it was decided that the BBMB would itself formulate their pay scales. The petitioners' grievance is that when they were converted as adhoc regular category Welders, their scales were not fixed at par with the equivalent posts available with PSEB but the scales were given as already given to the work-charged category employees. The petitioners would point out to the fact that in a clarification obtained from PSEB, it was learnt that PSEB had 3 categories, viz Welder (work-charged), certified Welder (regular) and Welder (regular) with the scale of Rs.span 620-1200 for certified Welder (regular) and Welder (regular) and a lower scale for Welder (work-charged). The petitioners would, therefore, contend that as per the options taken from the petitioners, they were bound to have been provided with the pay scales as were admissible to the corresponding regular employees of PSEB and to peg down the scales at the rate at which they were drawing as work-charged Welders was not appropriate.

(2.) The contention in defence by the respondents 1 and 2 in their written statement is that there were no posts for the Welder in the regular cadre in the corresponding pay scales of Rs.span 105-180 in PSEB and accordingly, the BBMB decided to place them in the revised scales of Rs.span 400-600. The PSEB had their pay scales for regular Welders at Rs.span 200-650 prior to 01.01.1978 and it was revised to Rs.span 620-1200 w.e.f. 01.01.1978.

(3.) The justification for providing for their own scales instead of adopting the scales applicable for PSEB employees for equivalent posts as found in the reply is, in my view, untenable. The equivalence was to be seen in the posts of PSEB with the posts in BBMB and not the scales of pay as well. It would be meaningless to bring such an import, for, if there was equivalence also in the scales, there was no requirement of having to specify that the scales of pay as provided in the Electricity Board would apply. It was only because that the persons, who were on work-charged basis, were getting converted to a higher status as regular employees, the offer had been made and workers had been made to exercise option that they would accept the regular posts if the scales as available in the Electricity Board were extended to them. If the post as a Welder (regular) as such existed in the PSEB, the denial of the scale attached to the post, was erroneous. The petitioners shall be entitled to secure the relief at the same scale at which PSEB employees in the category of Welders were placed. The corresponding scales at the time when the writ petition had been filed was Rs.span 1500-2640 for regular Welders performing similar duties in PSEB and the said scales shall be applicable to the petitioners.