LAWS(P&H)-1992-11-112

N.K. MAKKAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

Decided On November 19, 1992
N K MAKKAR Appellant
V/S
UNION OF INDIA Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The dispute raised in this writ petition is, whether the petitioner is entitled to the Middle Management Grade Scale-II (for short, Scale-II), with effect from January 1, 1983.

(2.) The petitioner was appointed as a Clerk-Cum-Cashier on June 1, 1974 in the Oriental Bank of Commerce and promoted as Special Assistant on March 2, 1979. He was ultimately promoted as Manager vide letter dated April 3, 1990, Annexure P-4 and posted as such at Sarai Naga Branch (District Faridkot). The Bank in which the petitioner was working was, admittedly, nationalised w.e.f. April 15, 1980. He was informed vide letter dated October 4, 1982, Annexure P-13 that he has been allowed an annual graded increment of Rs. 50/- w.e.f. June 1, 1982 were fixed at basic salary of Rs. 950/- (Grade 'C'). The Board of Directors of the respondent-bank, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India and with the previous sanction of the Central Government, in exercise of its powers conferred by Section 19 read with sub-Section (2) of Section 12 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 made the Regulations called as Oriental Bank of Commerce (Officers) Service Regulations, 1982 (for short 'the Regulations') which became effective from January 1, 1983. The case of the petitioner is that his services are governed by the new Regulations and in view of the promotion policy, as notified in the Establishment Circular No. 37/7. dated January 24, 1980, he is entitled to Middle Management Grade 'B' now known as Middle Management Grade, Scale-II i.e. Rs. 950-1920 and he had been wrongly fitted in Junior Management Grade, Scale-II while re-categorising him under the new Regulations, in the scale Rs. 700-1800, with effect from January 1, 1983. The claim of the petitioner in nut-shell is that he ought to have been granted Scale-II (Rs. 950-1920) instead of Junior Management, Grade, Scale-I (Rs. 700-1800), with effect from January 1, 1983, as he had been working as Manager before January 1, 1983 on the basic salary of Rs. 950/- per month. The petitioner has claimed this relief by challenging Clause (iii) of the Establishment Circular No. 37/7 on the grounds of it being discriminatory and hit by Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) In order to understand the controversy, it is necessary to notice at this stage the provisions of clause (iii) of Establishment Circular No. 37/7 which reads as under :