ARUN KUMAR, CJ - (1.) The controversy raised in these appeals is regarding the pay- scales to be applicable to the various posts on the administrative side in the Rajasthan High Court. Different Associations of the High Court staff filed writ petitions in this Court seeking better pay-scales for the staff. The batch of writ petitions came to be decided by a judgment of a learned single Judge dated, 14/03/1996. The learned single Judge while observing that more onerous duties were being discharged by the staff working in the High Court and also taking note of the nature of functions performed by various categories of employees of the High Court, directed that the employees working in the Rajasthan High Court be given the same pay scales as were being given to the employees in the Delhi High Court. The State Government has filed these appeals against the said common judgment disposing of the various writ petitions.
(2.) The main argument advanced on behalf of the appellant is that there is no reason to have parity of pay-scales prevailing in the Delhi High Court. It is submitted that the eligibility conditions for various posts, the working conditions and other considerations like cost of living index etc. are different in the Delhi High Court and therefore, the same scales of pay can not be made applicable for the staff working in the Rajasthan High Court. Secondly, it was: submitted that the scales of pay of various categories of employees working for the State Government did not justify a separate treatment in matter of pay scales to be applicable in case of the Rajasthan High Court employees, in. other words, the stand of the appellants is that the pay-scales should be in consonance with the pay-scales of similar posts in the State Government. It was also argued that the financial position of the State did not permit: such higher pay scales to be given to the High Court staff.
(3.) In response to these arguments, the stand of the employees' Associations is that the staff serving with the various High Courts in India is discharging similar functions, duties and responsibilities in their respective cadres. The pay scales for the High Court staff should therefore be comparable to pay scales of staff in other High Courts. There should be no comparison with pay scales prevalent in the State Government because the nature of duties and responsibilities attached to the various posts in the Courts is quite different as compared to the similar level posts in the State Government. The High Court employees are required to maintain much higher standard of efficiency, secrecy and responsibility. They were required to put in much longer hours of work. To illustrate the point, it was submitted that whereas a Stenographer in the State Government may have to type out only a few letters in a day, a Stenographer working in the High Court and attached to a Judge has to take long dictations of judgments and type volumes of pages. The judgments are often typed as a draft for approval in the first instance and then finalised. The Private Secretaries, Personal Assistants and other administrative Officers have practically no working hours in the sense that they may be called upon to work till late in the night and start in the early morning. The Private Secretaries and Stenographers have to be in attendance at the residences of the respective Judges till late in the evening and early in the morning as per convenience of the concerned Judges. Same is the case about Class IV employees attached with the Judges and senior officers. The senior members of staff like the Assistant Registrar and Deputy Registrar have practically no working hours. Often they have to work till late in the evening or start early in the morning. They have to often attend meetings which continue till late hours. They are often called upon to work on Sundays and holidays. They have also to ensure that orders are carried out as per the time schedule fixed.;