- (1.) The petitioners in this writ petition, who are working as Coaches in various games in the Sports Department of the State of Haryana, are claiming pay parity with the District Sports Officers working in the same department.
(2.) The case as put forth in the writ petition is that the petitioners are working as Coaches in the Sports Department of the State of Haryana. The Coaches and the District Sports Officers formed one cadre in the department where they had joint seniority and a post of a Coach and that of the district Sports Officer are interchangeable. It has been further averred that prior to 1968 the pay scale of Coaches and the District Sports Officers who formed a joint cadre was Rs. 250-500, which was revised to Rs. 300-600 after 1968. Further it has been stated that with effect from Ist April, 1979, the pay-scale of both Coaches and the District Sports Officers in the joint cadre was revised to Rs. 700-1250 with selection grade of Rs. 750-1450 to 20% posts of the joint cadre of the Coaches and the District Sports Officers. However, vide order dated 2nd October, 1984 (Annexure P-4) the State Government had revised the grade of District Sports Officers, including the Sports Officer at Headquarters from Rs. 700-1250 to Rs. 800-1600 with effect from 28th September, 1984. The grievance of the petitioners is that though the Coaches and the District Sports Officers formed one cadre; they had a joint seniority and their posts were interchangeable, yet they had been discriminated against by the State Government, in as much as the pay scales of the district Sports Officers had been revised from Rs. 700-1250 to Rs. 800-1600, whereas the pay scale of Coaches has not been revised. According to the petitioners this action of the State Government was arbitrary and discriminatory and violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.
(3.) Mr. J.L. Gupta, Senior Advocate, learned counsel for the petitioners, has submitted that since Coaches and the District Sports Offices formed one joint cadre; they had a joint seniority and their posts were interchangeable and they were getting the same pay scale as the District Sports Officers, the Government could not just revise the pay scales of the post of District Sports Officers and not of Coaches. According to the learned counsel, the Government must justify as to why while revising the pay scale of the District Sports Officers, the pay scale of Coaches was not revised. He further submitted that since there was no justification to treat the Coaches differently then the District Sports Officers for the purpose of pay scales and there was no reasonable classification between these two categories of Officers, the action was wholly arbitrary and violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. There is force in the submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioners.;