- (1.) Grievance in the writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the Constitution ) is that there should be parity in the matter of service benefits so far as the army personnel and officers working in the General Reserve Engineering Force (in short GREF ). Stand of the petitioner that he and other employees are serving in the Border Road Organisation and the Government of India is bound to treat equally with the members of the Armed Force and there should not be any distinction pertaining to extending the facilities and benefits in the service including allowance pay etc. Reference is made to a decision of this Court in R. Viswan and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. to contend that this Court had, in fact, directed such a course to be adopted. It is pointed out under a misconception the 4th and the 5th Central Pay Commissions have not considered the connected issue in the proper perspective.
(2.) Mr. B. Dutta, learned Additional Solicitor General, on the contrary submitted that in R. Viswan s case (supra) there was no direction to give parity as is being contended by the petitioner. On the contrary in Sukhdev Singh Gill v. State of Punjab and Ors. , this Court had, inter alia, held that such a course is not permissible.
(3.) In R. Viswan s (supra) it was, inter-alia, observed as follows: 11. Before we part with this point, we may point out that an anguished complaint was made before us on behalf of the petitioners that there is considerable disparity between the Army personnel posted in GREF units and the other officers and men of GREF insofar as the terms and conditions of service, such as, salary, allowances and rations are concerned. It is not necessary for us to consider whether this complaint is justified; it is possible that it may not be wholly unjustified but we may point out that in any event it has no real bearing at all on the question whether the members of GREF can be said to be members of Armed Forces. Since the members of GREF are drawn from two different sources, it is possible that the terms and conditions of service of the personnel coming from the two sources may be different. The Army personnel posted in GREF units naturally carry their own terms and conditions of service while the other officers and men in GREF are governed by their own distinctive terms and conditions. It is difficult to appreciate how differences in terms and conditions of service between GREF personnel coming from two different streams can possibly have any impact on the character of GREF as a force integral to the Armed Forces. It is immaterial for the purpose of determining whether the members of GREF are members of the Armed Forces as to what are the terms and conditions of service of the members of GREF and whether they are identical with those of Armed personnel appointed on the same or equivalent posts in GREF units. But, we may observe that in case it is found that the terms and conditions of service of officers and men in GREF directly recruited or taken on deputation are in any way less favourable than those of Army personnel appointed to the same or equivalent posts in GREF, the Central Government might well consider the advisability of taking steps for ensuring that the disparity, if any, between the terms and conditions of service, such as, salary, allowances, rations etc. of Army personnel posted in GREF units and other officers and men in GREF is removed.;