SHIV SHANKAR PANDEY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONERS , who are 21 in number, are Village Health Guides in the Primary Health Centre engaged on monthly honorarium of.... Rs. 50/ - and in this writ application their prayer is to direct the respondents to regularise their services on the post of Village Health Guides and grant them the scale of Class IV employees. In the writ application they have paid one set of court fee and the Stamp Reporter has found the court fee paid by the petitioners to be insufficient and had directed the petitioners to file 20 more sets of court fee. The petitioners did not file the required sets of court fee and took a plea that as common relief has been sought for, filing of one set of court fee is sufficient. This did not satisfy the Stamp Reporter and accordingly the matter has been placed for consideration before this Court.

(2.) MR . Jai Shankar Barnwal appearing on behalf of the petitioners submits that all the petitioners are working as Village Level Guides and their prayer is for regularisation of their services and payment of salary in the scale granted to Class IV employees, that is, relief being common, filing of one set of court fee shall be sufficient. In support of his submission he has placed reliance on a Division Bench order of this Court in Smt. Krishna Pati Devi and others V/s. The State of Bihar and others [1998 (2) P.L.J.R. 765] and my attention has been drawn to paragraph 4 of the order which reads as follows :

(3.) I do not find any force in the submission of the learned counsel. Payment of court fee on a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is governed by Article 1(d)(i) of Schedule II of the Court -Fees as amended by Section 2 of Court Fees (Bihar Amendment) Act, 1995 (Bihar Act 7 of 1996). Same reads as follows : Schedule II Fixed Fees Application for petition