- (1.) These two writ petitions have been preferred by two petitioners-Shri P.K. Gautam and Shri S.H. Arif assailing the order dated 10.4.1997 with the prayer that the said order be quashed and the respondents be restrained from making any recovery from them pursuant to the said order and be directed to revise the pay scale of the post of Project Manager in the pay scale of Rs.4100-5300 with all consequential benefits.
(2.) The petitioners were earlier than joining the services of the Rajasthan State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd. were working as Senior Mining Engineer in Hindustan Copper Ltd., a Government of India undertaking, where they served for 9 years and 12 years respectively. Thereafter they joined the service of respondents. The respondents in the seniority list issued on 17.8.1992 showed the name of petitioners at S.No.7 & 8 respectively. Recruitment in the services of the respondents is made under Rajasthan State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd., Recruitment and Promotion Rules, 1980. Posts concerning mining category are included in Schedule-IV annexed to the said Rules, the highest post being that of Chief Mining Engineer. At item no.1A, post of Dy. General Manager is there. At item no.2 of the said schedule, post of Project Manager has been included and its pay scale has been indicated therein. Post of Mining Engineer is shown at item no.3. At the time when the Rules were promulgated, post of Project Manger carried the pay scale of Rs.1700-2200, which was revised in the year 1981 to Rs.2100-2600. When the petitioners joined the services with the respondents in 1986, they were fixed in the pay scale of Rs.2100-2600 at basic pay of Rs.2100. Pay scale of that post was later revised in the year 1986 to Rs.3150-4700 and subsequently in the year 1988 to Rs.3700-5000. Recruitment for the post of Project Manager consists of 50% by direct recruitment and 50% by promotion and channel of promotion was from the post of Mining Engineer requiring three years experience as such. Post of Mining Engineer originally carried the pay scale of Rs.1550-2000, which was later revised to Rs.1920-2500 in 1981, Rs.2975-4700 in 1986 and Rs.3700-5000 in the year 1988. The first anomaly arose when in the Revised Pay Scale Rules, 1988, post of Project Manager and Mining Engineer were both fixed in the same pay scale. One Shri R.K. Joshi, who was appointed as Mining Engineer in the services of the respondents was fixed in the pay scale of Rs.1920-2500 on 8.9.1986. It was around the same time that the petitioners were appointed with the respondents in the pay scale of Rs.2100-2600. Shri R.K. Joshi was appointed as Mining Engineer i.e. the next below post in the pay scale of Rs.1920-2500. As a result of pay revision therefore all the three were fixed in the pay scale of Rs.3700-5000. Second anomaly arose when Shri R.K. Joshi was promoted on the recommendation of DPC in the year 1992-93 by order dated 23.1.1993 in the pay scale of Rs.3700-5000. On account of his promotion to the post of Project Manager, he was given the benefit of two additional grade increments in accordance with Rule. 23(1) of the Rajasthan State Industrial & Mineral Development Corporation Ltd. Service Rules, 1969 (for short the RSMDC Service Rules) and accordingly he was fixed at Rs.4450 because he was already drawing as Mining Engineer the basic pay of Rs.4200. Even when the petitioners were working as Project Manager since 1986 and Shri R.K. Joshi was promoted much later in the year 1993, he on account of grant of two additional increments started getting higher basic pay than the petitioner by Rs.250, despite the fact that he was junior to the petitioners. Petitioners represented to the respondent-Corporation on 29.9.1993 for stepping up their pay at par with the junior. The respondents having considered their representation issued an order on 19.4.1994 stepping up pay of the petitioners from Rs.4200 to Rs.4450 in the pay scale of Rs.3700-5000 so as to bring salary of petitioners at par with Shri R.K. Joshi with effect from 23.1.1993. One Shri R.R. Patel, who was recruited as Project Manager in the service of the respondent-Corporation and was senior to the petitioners as well Shri R.K. Joshi also submitted a representation to the Corporation that since he was getting lesser salary in spite of being senior to petitioners and Shri R.K. Joshi, his pay should also be stepped up at par with them. The respondent-Corporation sent the matter to Bureau of Public Enterprises. The Bureau by letter dated 12.6.1996 clarified that provisions of Rule 26A of the Rajasthan Service Rules have wrongly been applied to the case of petitioners and that the petitioners could not be granted the benefit of stepping up of pay.
(3.) It is on that account that the petitioners came to know about this and they submitted a representation to the Managing Director of the Corporation on 24.6.1996 and requested for granting personal hearing. The respondent-Corporation however without any opportunity of hearing to the petitioners passed the impugned order dated 10.4.1997 by which the earlier order of stepping up of pay at part with Shri R.K. Joshi was withdrawn with effect from 23.1.1993.;