M.M. Kumar, J. - (1.) THIS judgment shall dispose of LPA Nos. 287 and 288 of 2011 filed by the State of Punjab under Clause X of the Letters Patent challenging the common order dated 13.8.2010 rendered by the learned Single Judge allowing CWP Nos. 12750 and 15623 of 2009, which were filed by the petitioner -respondents. The learned Single Judge has directed the appellant State of Punjab and the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh through its Registrar to place the petitioner -respondents in the pay scale of '5000 -8100 with effect from the date, the said pay scale was allowed to the Graduate Clerks. They have been further directed to calculate and pay the differential amount of the pay scale to the petitioner -respondents within a period of four months, failing which they would be entitled to interest @ 6% from the due date till realisation. Facts of the case may first be noticed. The petitioner respondents are all non -graduate Clerks working in various District and Sessions Divisions in the State of Punjab. They were recruited/promoted to the post of Clerk at the time when the qualification prescribed for the post of Clerk was Matriculation. In the year 1989 a Writ Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, namely, All India Judges' Association v. Union of India [WP(C) No. 1022 of 1989] was filed before Hon'ble the Supreme Court praying for setting up an All India Judicial Service and for bringing about uniform conditions of service for members of Subordinate Judiciary throughout the country. On the basis of directions issued by Hon'ble the Supreme Court vide orders dated 13.11.1991 and 24.8.1993, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Department of Justice, Government of India, constituted the First National Judicial Pay Commission, vide resolution dated 21.3.1996, which is commonly known as the 'Shetty Commission', to evolve the pay structures and emoluments of the Judicial Officers all over the country.
(2.) IN the All India Judges' Association case (supra), the employees working in the lower judiciary of various States moved an application for being impleaded as party for raising their grievances with regard to their service conditions and pay scales etc. Hon'ble the Supreme Court allowed the application primarily taking a view that 'Shetty Commission' has been set up to look into the service conditions and grant of pay scales to the Subordinate Judicial Officers through out the country. Pursuant to the reference made by Hon'ble the Supreme Court to the 'Shetty Commission, the grievances of the employees of the Subordinate Judiciary were taken up separately by the 'Shetty Commission'. The Shetty Commission in its report opined in the preface to the report as under: - We are concerned in this Report with the service conditions of the unsung heroes who work overtime but remain unnoticed and unrecognized. They are the staff who form a critical and important mass of our administration of justice in district courts and courts subordinate thereto. When we refer to administration of justice, we think only of the judges of the courts. The judge of a court, no doubt, is indispensable to our notion of a court. But, the judge alone cannot administer justice. The working of a Court does not depend only on the work of the Judicial Officer for taking evidence, hearing arguments and rendering judgments. These functions are necessarily to be supplemented by the staff of the Court. Their work extends to pre -trial, during trial and post -trial stages of a case. Without their contribution at all these stages, there cannot be prompt and satisfactory termination of any case. xxx xxx xxx Over the last several years, the pendency of cases in all court is on the rise. But the staff strength in every Court is generally static. During this period, almost all the government departments have swelled to the brim with additional staff and multiple of top brass, but the subordinate judiciary languish with inadequate number of courts and insufficient staff. In the backdrop of above preface the Shetty Commission proceeded to make its recommendations. In this process before making its recommendations, in Chapter -VII of the report, the Shetty Commission made the following pertinent observations in respect of the 'common category posts': The duties and responsibilities of the common category posts in the Subordinate Courts are not comparable with those of their counterparts in the Government. The judicial employees have enormous and quite different nature of work. They are compelled to work beyond the working hours to complete the day's work. There is no question of postponement to next day They hardly get sufficient break during lunchtime. Their work is specialized and time bound. They are required to familiarise themselves with all the Acts, Rules and Regulations of the Central and State Governments. They have backbreaking workload in view of the everincreasing pendency in Courts. They have a higher responsibility to implement faithfully the judicial orders of Courts. They have to keep the Courts functioning on time bound basis for which they are often forced to work beyond office hours and sometimes even on holidays. Almost all High Courts are in favor of providing adequate compensation for the arduous work done by the Court Staff. Even certain State Governments and Union Territories have come to the rescue of the Court Staff by suggesting higher pay scales to the common category posts. Almost all District Judges of States/Union Territories agree that the Court Staff, even of common category, deserve higher emoluments. In fact, the District Judges are the best eye -witness to certify the work -load of their staff, since the staff work under their watchful eyes. It is also their version that the staff shoulder higher responsibility and work beyond office hours almost every day with an added duty to maintain Muddemal properties and original documents.
(3.) IN the year 2003, the Shetty Commission made recommendations not only for the Judicial Officers but also for the Judicial Staff. After noticing the existing position, views of High Court, State Government and Staff Associations, the Shetty Commission recommended the pay scale of '5000 -8100 to Graduate Clerks in the Courts. The relevant extract from the report of the Commission is as under: - A. EXISTING POSITION: Most of the Common Category posts in the Subordinate Judiciary carry the pay scale of their counterparts in the departments of the State Government. There is, however, one exception. It is stated during the hearing that the entry level Clerical post which is styled as "Clerk" originally carried the pay scale of Rs. 3120 -5160 when the prescribed qualification was Matriculation. In 1999, the qualification has been raised to Graduation. But, the pay scale remains the same. It is, however, complained that similar posts in the Field Departments with the qualification of graduation have been given the pay scale of Rs. 5000 -8100. It is requested that similar pay scale be given to Court Clerks. B. VIEWS OF HIGH COURT, STATE GOVERNMENT AND STAFF ASSOCIATIONS: The High Court has given the following reasons in support of grant of higher pay scales: (a) Duties and responsibilities are extremely arduous and time bound; and (b) The Court staff have to work more number of hours compared to their counterparts in Government Departments. The State Government has stated that the pay scales of the employees have been revised w.e.f. 1.1.1996 as per the recommendations of the Vth Central Pay Commission. If these categories of staff are given higher pay scales, then the other identical staff of the State Government will also demand the same pay scales on the ground of equal pay for equal work, as the duties performed by the staff are similar. The Staff Associations have given the following reasons in support of their demand for higher pay scales: (a) duties and responsibilities are arduous; (b) Court work is time bound; (c) Responsibility of Court staff is higher than that of their counterparts; and (d) Higher qualification has been prescribed to the posts. C. OUR RECOMMENDATIONS: I. Clerks: We consider that the request of the Court Clerks is reasonable. We see no justification for discrimination. We, therefore, recommend the pay scale of Rs. 5000 - 8100 to Graduate Clerks in the Courts. (Italics by us);