- (1.)Heard Mr. Lata Sachindra Kumar, learned counsel for the Petitioner and counsel for the State.
In this writ application, the prayer of the Petitioner reads as follows:-

1. That through this Writ Application, the Petitioner seeks issuance of appropriate writ, order or direction for quashing of part of the report, regarding recommendation of revised pay scale of Senior Sister Tutors and Principal of Fitment Appellate Committee as well as Fitment Committee, whereby the the Fitment Appellate Committee, without considering the case of the petitioner, allowed the same recommendation of revised pay scale as recommended by Fitment Committee i.e. Rs. 5500-Rs.9000, instead of Rs. 7500-Rs. 12,000, which is the revised pay scale in Central Government for the similar post, after implementation of the report of 5th Pay Commission recommendation. The Petitioner further seeks a direction to the Respondents to fix the correct pay scale of the Petitioner with effect from 1.1.1996 in the revised pay scale of Rs. 7500-Rs. 250-Rs. 12,000, which is the central scale for similar post and quoted in paragraph No. 69.44 of the report of Fifth Pay Commission for Central Civil Services and grant the monetary benefits/ arrears of difference amount to be paid to the Petitioner alongwith revised increased uniform allowance @ Rs. 3,000/ - per annum, washing allowance @ Rs. 150/- per month and nursing allowance @ Rs. 1,600/- per month, with effect from 1.4.1997, which is already recommends by the Fitment Committee and Fitment Appellate Committee in their reports.

(2.)Learned counsel for the Petitioner has highlighted that when there was a conscious Government decision to adopt the pay-scale of employees of corresponding rank of Central Government for the State Government employees, the Petitioner holding the post of Senior Sister Tutor, could not have been deprived of the fixation of pay-scale as being paid to the Senior Sister Tutor in the Central Government. In this context, he has placed reliance on a number of documents enclosed with this writ application as also the report of the Fitment Committee in paragraph No. 38.22.9 to show that in the Government of India, the pay-scale of staff for the category of Senior Sister Tutor was Rs. 2000-3200/- (pre-revised) and Rs. 6500-10500/- (revised) and as such, the decision of the State of Bihar to place the Petitioner and other Senior Sister Tutor in the scale of Rs. 1640-2600/- (pre-revised) and Rs. 5000-8000/- (revised) is wholly arbitrary.
(3.)There is no counter affidavit on behalf of the Respondents but then the learned counsel for the State on the basis of materials on record would try to justify such Government decision as with regard to the grant of pay-scale to the post of Senior Sister Tutor. He has sought to explain that there is a basic difference in the setup of the nursing cadre in the State Government as against the one which is prevailing in the Central Government.