- (1.) THE appellant was appointed as Sub Inspector of Central Excise in March, 1945 in Central Excise and Salt Department. The post was redesignated as Inspector of Central Excise in 1948. In the same year, the Department was separated into two departments called as Salt Department and Central Excise Department. On option extended to the personnel in the Central Excise Department, appellant opted to continue as Inspector of Salt in the newly created Salt Department with the same scale of pay etc. , as in the Central Excise Department. He was promoted as Deputy Superintendent of Salt in 1963 and later promoted as Superintendent of Salt. He retired in the said post on 30th September, 1979. He preferred W. P. No. 5017 of 1978 for quashing the order of the first respondent dated 16th October, 1978, in and by which, the representations made by Deputy Superintendents/inspectors of Salt Department for revision of their pay scales with effect from 1st July, 1959 under C. C. S. (Revised Pay) Rules, 1960 was rejected. He had sought for a direction to issue to respondents 1 to 3 to implement the contents in letter dated 28th March, 1966 and the order dated 24th June, 1967 with effect from 1st July, 1959 and pay the arrears under C. C. S. (Revised Pay) Rules, 1960 in so far as the appellant is concerned.
(2.) HIS contention in short is that, after bifurcation in 1948, the personnel of Salt Department have to be treated on a par with their counterparts in Central Excise Department as they are discharging similar duties, and when first respondent had finally agreed to revise the scales of pay as obtaining in the Excise Department, it ought to have granted relief to them with effect from 1st July, 1959 as was granted to the personnel in the Excise Department, and should not have restricted the relief only with effect from 1st May, 1967, the date on which the order was passed by the Government of India granting revised pay. The Second Pay Commission Scales of Pay having become effective on and from 1st July, 1959 and since revised scales of pay having been extended to the personnel in the Central Excise Department, the first respondent could not have fixed an arbitrary date for implementation of the revised scales of pay to the personnel of Salt Department i. e. from the date of the order. Based on the concept of equal pay for equal work and discriminatory treatment being prohibited under Art. 14 of the Constitution of India, the appellant is entitled to the relief as claimed.
(3.) ON behalf of the respondents, it was admitted that the bifurcation took place in 1948 and that the Second Pay Commission was the first Commission constituted after the bifurcation and it gave its report in August 1959 and it was implemented with effect from 1st July, 1959. Salt Department was not one that was excluded from its purview. In its report, no reference was made to the Salt Department. On representations received from the personnel in Salt Department claiming that they should be placed on a part with their counter parts in Central Excise Department, the Government of India, on taking into account the scales of pay of the counterparts in other Central Government Departments, deemed it fit to fix the scales of pay in the case of Inspectors and Deputy Superintendents with effect from 1st July, 1959. It is not disputed that even though this revised scale of pay was arrived at later on, it was made effective from 1st July, 1959. Still, the staff of Salt Department not being satisfied, submitted representations to the Government to place them on a par with their counterparts in the Central Excise Department. On 4th May, 1962, the Ministry called upon the concerned staff to exercise their option for the scales of pay already offered, and they were also informed that they would be given fresh option to elect modified scales of pay, if and when ordered by the Government on the basis of the report of S. R. Unit after their completing a comparative study of the duties and responsibilities of the Inspectors and Deputy Superintendents in the Central Excise and Salt Departments. On this basis, after a comparative analysis was made, Government of India took a decision to fix the same scales of pay as obtaining in the Central Excise Department to Inspectors and Deputy Superintendents in the Salt Department, but made it operative only from 1st April, 1966/1st May 1967. It is the contention of the respondent that the option given was for only "choosing either the scales of pay that were offered by the Government with effective from 1st July, 1959 or those that may be offered subsequently, but not about the date of implementation. " The revision of scales of pay could be operative only from the date of the order and cannot trace back to 1st July, 1959 when the Second Pay Commission Scales of Pay were made effective. The revision of scales of pay having been done by the Government, no reliance could be placed on implementation of the decision of the Second Pay Commission. Duties and responsibilities attached to these posts are in no way identical to those working in the Central Excise Department. The scale of pay was fixed on an ad-hoc basis. The decision of the Supreme Court in W. P. No. 81 of 1969 is not applicable to the facts and circumstances of this case.;