DALAM CHAND Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ petition, thirteen retrenched employees of the Rajasthan Small Industries Corporation who were appointed in the Government Department on contract basis are seeking the benefits of revised pay scales under the Rajasthan Civil Services (Revised Pay Scales) Rules, 1998 and other service-linked benefits. For claiming such benefits, they have challenged the conditions under clause 7 and clause 10 under the Circular dtd. 24/12/1994 on the ground that such conditions are in breach of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The petitioners have prayed that :-

(2.) The petitioners were employed under the Rajasthan Small Industries Corporation as Machine Operators and posted at the unit of the Corporation at Churu. They were confirmed in service on different dates between 5/2/1976 (Dalam Chand Soni) to 1/4/1983 (Keshar Dev Saini and Bal Kishan Sharma). Other petitioners were confirmed in service in the year 1977, except Mohan Lal Soni who was confirmed in service with effect from 29/9/1980. In course of time, the Corporations unit at Churu suffered the order of closure of the mill and the petitioners were retrenched from service on 30/11/1994. Soon thereafter, the guidelines for engagement of the retrenched employees of Public Sector Undertakings on contract were issued on 24/12/1994 by the Department of Personnel, Government of Rajasthan. Such guidelines were issued by the Government of Rajasthan pursuant to the decision of the State Bureau of Public Enterprises Department that the retrenched employees of Public Sector Undertakings may be engaged as far as possible in State Government Departments on contract basis. In pursuance thereof, the petitioners were appointed on contract basis under Health Department in the district of Churu by an Office Order dtd. 22/4/1995 issued under the signature of the Chief Medical and Health Officer at Ratangarh, Churu and were posted at different places as indicated in the Office Order dtd. 28/4/1995. The petitioners have produced a copy of the Office Order dtd. 26/5/1995 which reveals that Jagdish Prasad Deora, Satya Narain Soni, Dalamchand Soni and Chagan Lal Sharma were granted pay scale of Rs.730.001250/- and the pay of other petitioners was fixed in the pay scale of Rs.700.00865/-. By the Office Order dtd. 26/5/1995, petitioners were provided the following emoluments :-

(3.) However, the order of pay fixation dtd. 26/5/1995 was superseded by an Office Order dtd. 9/9/1996 whereunder the emoluments to be paid to the petitioners included Basic Pay, fixed amount of Dearness Allowance and Medical Allowance of Rs.50.00 per month. A direction to the effect of recovery of excess amount paid to the petitioners was also contained in the Office Order dtd. 9/9/1996. Aggrieved by the drastic change in the service conditions and the proposed recovery of excess amount, the petitioners approached the writ Court in S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.4364 of 1996 inter alia seeking the following reliefs :-