The court dismissed the writ petition filed by firemen against the dismissal of their original application in the Central Administrative Tribunal seeking parity in pay scales with police constables. The court ruled that pay fixation falls within the executive domain.
Petition dismissed with liberty to approach Competent Authority.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
Civil Writ Petition No.9345 of 2013 Date of Decision : May 02, 2013
Rattan Lal and others
.....Petitioners
versus
Union of India and others
.....Respondents
CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE R.P.NAGRATH.
Present : Mr.Pankaj Mohan Kansal, Advocate, for the petitioners. -.-
Surya Kant, J. (Oral)
The petitioners, who are working as Firemen in the Ammunition Depot, Bathinda, are aggrieved by the order dated 8.8.2012 (Annexure P-4) passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh, whereby their Original Application seeking a direction for further revision of their pay scale to Rs.3200-4900 with grade pay of Rs.2000/- with effect from the date of implementation of the new revised pay scales, has been dismissed.
The issue that arose for consideration before the Tribunal was “whether the petitioners are entitled to claim parity in pay scale at par with the constables working in CPMFs, Delhi Police, IB and CBI?” It is not in dispute that the petitioners were granted the pay scale of Rs.2750-4400 w.e.f. 1.1.1996 whereas the pay scale of the Constables/Head Constables was rationalized by the Ministry of Home Affairs in
CWP No.9345 of 2013 [2]
the year 1997 and they were placed in the pay scale of Rs.3050-4590. It may be true that the 6th Pay Commission in para No.3.8.12 opined that keeping in view the job requirement and duties of the fire fighting staff, “various posts of fighting staff should be afforded pay scales on par with those being recommended for the posts of Constable and Head Constable in CPMFs, Delhi Police, IB and CBI”. However, the fact of the matter is that the 6th Pay Commission recommended the pay scale of Rs.3050-4590 only for the firemen and/or Rs.3200-4900 for the leading firemen. The Competent Authority has accepted those recommendations and granted the revised pay scales accordingly.
The 6th Pay commission also recommended “better pay scale for constables who are the cutting edge of the organization and whose job is very arduous”. The Pay Commission recommended pay scale of Rs.3200-4900 to the Constables and Rs.4000-6000 to the Head Constables. These two cadres have also been granted the recommended pay scales. It would thus be seen that the firemen or the leading firemen have been granted the revised pay scales which a Constable or Head Constable was drawing as pre-revised pay scales before 1.1.2006.
The petitioners, on the other hand, rest their claim on the observations made by the 6th Pay Commission in its recommendations and also place reliance on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Randhir Singh versus Union of India 1982 (1) SCC 618 to invoke the principle of 'equal pay for equal work'. The Tribunal, however, has distinguished the cited decision with reference to the later case-law in State of U.P. and others versus J.P.Chaurasia, 1989 (1) SCC 121 and
CWP No.9345 of 2013 [3]
State of Haryana and another versus Haryana Civil Secretariat Personal Staff Association, 2002 (6) SCC 72, wherein their Lordships have ruled that equation of posts or equation of pay falls within the domain of Executive and it should be left to be determined by the expert bodies. Suffice it would be to observe that if the petitioners have sufficient material to claim parity with the Constables or Head Constables, as the case may be, the appropriate recourse for them would be to approach the Competent Authority and not the judicial forum.
With liberty aforementioned, the writ petition is
dismissed.
(SURYA KANT) JUDGE $ May 02, 2013 (R.P.NAGRATH) Mohinder JUDGE
2 issues framed by the court
Whether firemen working at the Ammunition Depot Bathinda are entitled to claim parity in pay scale with constables of CPMFs, Delhi Police, IB and CBI.
Whether the fixation of pay scale and equation of posts falls within the domain of the Executive or the judicial forum.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Randhir Singh versus Union of IndiaDistinguished¶19
Randhir Singh versus Union of India 1982 (1) SCC 618 · Who else cites this
State of U.P. and others versus J.P. ChaurasiaDistinguished¶19
State of U.P. and others versus J.P.Chaurasia, 1989 (1) SCC 121 · Who else cites this
State of Haryana and another versus Haryana Civil Secretariat Personal Staff AssociationDistinguished¶21
State of Haryana and another versus Haryana Civil Secretariat Personal Staff Association, 2002 (6) SCC 72 · Who else cites this
Rattan Lal and others
Union of India
Surya Kant
R.P. Nagrath
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
