- (1.) HEARD learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. Sanjay Sarin, Standing Counsel.
(2.) THE grievance of the petitioners, who are the Photo Artists in the Irrigation Depart­ment, is that they have been placed in the lower pay scale of Rs.400-615, whereas the Photo Artist working in other departments of the State Government, i.e. Information De­partment, Agriculture Department and Pub­lic Works Department have been granted higher pay scale of Rs.570-1100, therefore, they have prayed that they shall be provided the pay scale of Rs.570-1100 with effect from 1st July, 1979 and Rs. 1400-2600 with effect from 1st January, 1986. Counsel for the petitioners has submit­ted that before the first pay commission, the pay scale for Photo Artists was Rs.230-385 which was also available to the Photo Artists working in the other departments of the State Government. The First Pay Commission rec­ommended the pay scale of Rs.570-1100 to the Photo Artists, but the petitioners who are working in the Irrigation Department were given the lower pay scale of Rs.400-615. Af­ter the Second Pay Commission in the year 1986, it recommended the pay scale of Rs. 1400-2600, but the petitioners were again dis­criminated and were placed in the revised pay scale of Rs.975-1660 with effect from 1st January, 1986.
(3.) IT has been vehemently argued by the petitioners' counsel that when the State Gov­ernment admitted in principle that the same pay scale of the employees of the State Gov­ernment will be provided with their counter­parts of the Central Government and in fact has provided the same pay scale to the Photo Artist of other departments, i.e., Rs.1400-2600 and as such, there is no justification for not providing the same pay scale to the Photo Artist of the Irrigation Department, to whom the pay scale of Rs.975-1660 is being pro­vided. Therefore, the action of the respondents is violative of Articles 14 and 16, apart from Article 39-D of the Constitution of India.;