SAMBHU NATH KUNWAR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed by the Association of the Bihar State Civil Courts Employees (hereinafter called the said Association) and also by the Secretary of the said Association. The prayer in this writ petition is for quashing of Annexure-5, the order dated 14-1-1994 by which the prayer of the Clerks of the Civil Courts Employees for grant of higher scale of pay on the basis of graduate qualification has been turned down, inter alia, on the ground that the Finance Department of the State Government does not agree with the recommendation of the High Court in this matter.

(2.) The relevant facts of the case are as follows:- Prior to 1985 the minimum qualification for appointment of Clerks in the Civil Courts in Bihar was matriculation and in the year 1985 this Court by its letter dated 18-10-1985 raised the minimum qualification for appointment on the post of Clerk in the Civil Courts from Matriculation level to graduation level and this decision of the High Court was communicated to the State Government and the same was also approved by the State Government. In the context of the aforesaid upgradation of the qualification for appointment to the post of Clerks, the grievances of the petitioners are that even though the qualification has been up .graded, the petitioners are still getting the pay scale and other facilities which were available to the Mufassil establishment for the State Government for whom the required minimum educational qualification is still matriculation. As such, the grievances are that the petitioners are still placed in the pay scale of Rs. 1200-30-1800 and their prayer is that they should be placed in the pay scale of Rs. 1500-2750. In paragraph 10 of the writ petition, the petitioners have given the particulars of the work performed by them and they have stated that in so far as the nature of the work is concerned, they are performing the same nature of work as the work of the Assistants of the Secretariat and of the High Court. In the year 1991 the petitioner Association filed a memorandum of demand on behalf of the Civil Courts employees before the High Court and one such demand was that they should be allowed the pay scale of graduate standard similar to the Assistants of the Secretariat and of the High Court as they are performing the work of similar nature. The said memorandum came up for consideration before the Standing Committee of this Court and ultimately the Standing Committee of this Court in its meeting held on 21st, 22nd and 23rd August, 1991 gave the recommendation to the effect that the suggestion relating to the pay structure given by the Petitioner Association is recommended to the State Government. After the said decision was taken by the Standing Committee of this Court, the same was communicated to the Secretary Law (Judicial) Department, Government of Bihar, Patna vide letter dated 31-8-1991. The matter was kept pending by the Government for quite some time. Thereafter the Government has taken a decision which has been communicated by memo dated 14-1-1994 whereby it has been expressed that the higher pay scale recommended for the employees of the Civil Courts has not been accepted by the Finance Department. The said communication is at Annexure-5 and the prayer in this writ petition is for quashing of the same. The said decision which is at Annexure-5 was again placed before the Standing Committee of this Court on 10-5-1994 and on that date the Hon'ble Members of the Standing Committee decided to leave the matter to the Hon'ble the Chief Justice for taking appropriate decision. Thereafter on the basis of the minutes of the Hon'ble the Chief Justice dated 18-5-1994, the matter has been directed to be decided on the judicial side and since then the matter has been posted on the judicial side.

(3.) In the counter-affidavit which has been filed in this matter by one Baiju Basant Tigga, who is working as the Section Officer in the office of respondent No. 2, the stand which has been taken is that the educational qualification alone is not sufficient for applying the principles of "equal pay for equal work". As such, the recommendation for higher pay scale in favour of the employees of the Civil Courts of Bihar by the Standing Committee of this Court has not been accepted by the Finance Department.