BISWANATH SOMADDER,J. - (1.) After hearing the learned advocates for the parties and upon perusing the instant application, it appears that the writ petitioners ( ten in number ) have approached this Court with a common grievance that they are not allowed to get benefit of the same scale of pay which is given to the teaching staff of the Schools in terms of ROPA 1998. The writ petitioners have stated that they are the Librarians of different Higher Secondary Schools of the Burdwan district and other districts and have the professional qualification as required for the post of Librarian i.e. Master of Library and Information Science, (M.Lib) or Bachelor of Library and Information Science, (B.Lib) or Certificate in Library Science, etc. The writ petitioners have in the pleadings tried to make out a case that they are at par with the teaching staff and as such, their pay scale should be at par with the teaching staff.
(2.) The learned advocate representing the State- Respondents, however, submits that the post of a Librarian and that of a teaching staff are not one and the same, irrespective of the educational qualifications held by the librarians. He submits that the librarians fall under a separate category and fixation of their pay is based on separate parameters and cannot be equated with that of teaching or non-teaching staff.
(3.) After considering the submissions made by the learned advocates for the parties and upon perusing the instant application, I am of the view that the contention of the learned advocate appearing on behalf of the State- Respondents has substance. A librarian may possess higher qualification than that of a teaching staff, but that does not ipso facto make the librarian eligible for a pay scale at par with that of a teaching staff. By way of illustration, this can be explained. The requirement of an educational qualification required for appointment of a non- teaching Group D staff may be Class VIII. However, there may be 3 an applicant for the post of Group D staff who may possess a higher qualification, even a university degree, but that does not mean that by mere possession of such higher educational qualification such person shall be entitled to a higher scale of pay at par with that of a teaching staff. The same analogy can be brought into the facts and circumstances of the instant case. The educational qualification of a librarian has no rational nexus with that of a teaching staff and as such, there cannot be any pay parity between the librarians or members of the teaching staff or for that matter members of the non-teaching staff.;