SUBRATA TALUKDAR, J. - (1.) In this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the petitioners are 28 in number and, according to the record, have deposited the requisite court fees. The petitioners claim to be Management Level Grade E-1 Trainees posted at different subsidiaries of the Coal India Ltd. (for short CIL).
(2.) The case, according to the petitioners, may be summarised as follows:- (a) That each of the petitioners was initially engaged as wage board employee under the subsidiaries of CIL and, through a process of selection became appointed as management trainee E-1 w.e.f. 5th June, 2012 with CIL. (b) That CIL, being a Public Sector Undertaking (for short PSU), has adopted the provisions of the Common Coal Cadre (for short CCC). Out of the total vacancies in the CCC, 50% were reserved for outsiders and the remaining for departmental candidates. (c) By a Memo dated 8th March, 2010 CIL notified and thereafter appointed on promotion members from the non-executive to the executive cadre which, also included the present petitioners. The above noted process of recruitment which commenced in March, 2010 concluded in June, 2012 and, each of the petitioners received the appellation of Management Grade E-1 officer. However, it is again a matter of record that the appellation was changed to that of a Welfare Officer. (d) Almost contemporaneously, CIL instituted a selection procedure for outsiders in the management grade in the year 2011. Such selection culminated in the appointment of the outsiders to the E-1 management grade from the month of January, 2012 although, in the case of departmental candidates the recruitment process started much earlier in March, 2010 concluding in June, 2012. (e) Thereafter on 22nd March, 2012 CIL issued the following order:- "Your petitioners state that the respondent Coal India all on a sudden issued an Office Order No. CIL/C-5A (PC)/CCC/42 dated 22nd March, 2012 with the conditions as follows: Sub: Recruitment of Management Trainees of all disciplines through open advertisement and through campus will be in E2 Grade in 1st Year and subsequently placed in E3 grade after successful completion of 1 year training. The Board of Directors of CIL in their 277th meeting held on 30.01.2012 has approved the following: (i) Recruitment of Management Trainee's of all disciplines (either through open advertisement or through campus) will be in E-2 Grade in 1st year and they will be placed in E-3 grade after successful completion of 1 year training. (ii) Management Trainee's who are at present in E-1 grade or those Management Trainees who have been appointed on or after 01.01.2007 would be deemed to have been appointed in E-2 grade and after successful completion of the requisite training, they would be deemed to have been placed in E-3 grade and their pay will be appropriately fixed. (iii) All those Management Trainee's who have been placed in E-2 grade on successful completion of training between 01.01.2007 to 31.12.2010 will be placed in E-3 grade from the date they were placed in E-2 with appropriate pay fixation. (iv) All the provisions of Common Coal Cadre regarding recruitment, regularization/ absorption/placement, closure of probation etc. to be amended as per the policy mentioned above and. (v) No arrears will be paid on account of such re-gradation of notional fixation. Accordingly, (a) the service conditions of existing Management Trainees and Sr. Officers appointed on or after 01.01.2007 be regulated accordingly and (b) necessary amendments are being made in the relevant clauses of Common Coal Cadre. This will be effective from 1st April, 2012. This issues with the approval of Competent Authority." (f) The petitioners are aggrieved by the fact that the said office order dated 22nd March, 2012 was only confined to recruits from outside and, was not extended to the petitioners, being the departmental candidates. The petitioners complain of the fact that the circular dated 22nd March, 2012 creates a discriminatory arrangement between non-departmental and departmental candidates in the Management Grade since the non-departmental candidates received higher grades on completion of probation within the CCC. (g) The second limb of grievances raised by the petitioners relates to the wrongful fixation of their basic pay in the executive cadre. It is pointed out that several among the petitioners who were earlier receiving the Basic Pay of Rs. 36000/- to Rs. 37000/- per month in the non-executive grade had their pay reduced to Rs. 28000/- to Rs. 29000/- per month on being promoted to the executive E-1 grade. Consequentially, each of the petitioners is suffering a serious deficit in their annual increments calculated on Basic Pay.
(3.) Mr. Partha Ghosh, Ld. Advocate led by Mr. Kishore Dutta, Ld. Senior Counsel for the petitioners strenuously argues that the benefits of promotion and grade pay intended to be conveyed by CIL to its management executives at all levels should be prospective and, not retrospective. It is apparent that with the office order dated 22nd March, 2012, w.e.f. 1st April, 2012 the disparity between the petitioners and the directly recruited executive cadre has widened by creating a class within a class. Since repeated representations submitted to the higher authorities have yielded little result, the petitioners have been compelled to take their case to Court for equalisation of benefits by rolling back the office order dated 22nd March, 2012 or, alternately, making it applicable to all in the executive grade with all consequential benefits granted at par.;