Sambuddha Chakrabarti, J. - (1.) The petitioner served as a Secretarial Officer of Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd. (the company, for short), i.e. respondent no. 1 till December 31, 1998 when he took voluntary retirement from the company.
(2.) The case of the petitioner inter alia is that by a circular, dated June 25, 1999 of the Ministry of Industry there was a revision of scales of pay for the Board level posts and below Board level posts including nonunionized supervisors in public enterprises, with effect form January 1, 1997. The company secretary of the respondent no. 1 company issued a circular on November 29, 1999 to its members/shareholders proposing enhancement of scales of pay in respect of the Board level Directors with effect from January 1, 1997 or from their respective dates of appointment. Pursuant to the said guideline the company also implemented the revised scale of pay for the whole-time Directors from January 1, 1997 or from their respective dates of appointment.
(3.) The remuneration of the Managing Director was fixed at Rs. 25,750/- with other benefits and the remuneration of other whole-time Directors was enhanced from their respective dates of appointment. The Executive Director of the company issued a circular with regard to the revision of scale of pay of the officers holding below Board level posts in which it was decided to revise the scale of pay and related allowances of the officers of the company. It was decided that the revision of scales of pay would apply to all officers who were on the rolls of the company on regular scales of pay on December 31, 1996. The officers who had joined the company or had been promoted from non-officer to officer grade on or after January 1, 1997 will be placed in the revised scales of pay from the date of their joining or promotion as an officer. Such an officer would not be eligible for fitment benefits under the pay revision. The said circular also contained provisions relating to payments and entitlements, tenure etc. The revised scales of pay and other benefits contained in the said circular was to remain valid till December 31, 2006.;