AI OCR 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
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1998 (8) TMI 644
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....ade B was in the pay-scale of Rs. 650-1040. The 4th Pay Commission recommended (paragraphs 9.39 and 9.42 of the 4th Pay Commission Report) that Grades A and B should be merged and a uniform scale of Rs. 2000-3500 should be provided for all posts in Grades A and B combined. 3. It further recommended, "To provide further satisfactory promotional avenues for the members of the CSSS (Central Secretariat Stenographers Service), we recommend that posts of Private Secretaries to Secretaries to Government of India and equivalent officers may be upgraded and given the scale of Rs. 3000-4500 ......". Pursuant to this recommendation, the Government of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, by its Office Memorandum dated 7.10.1987 accepted the recommendation of the 4th Central Pay Commission in this regard and upgraded the existing posts of Private Secretaries to Secretaries to Government of India and equivalent officers to the scale of Rs. 3000-4500 with immediate effect. In the State of Gujarat: 4. In the Secretariat of the Government of Gujarat, prior to 1.1.1986. Stenographers Grade I carried the pay-scale of Rs. 650-1040. Stenographers Grade I-cum-Priva....
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.... pay-scales of various officers Gazetted and Non-gazetted. Under the Corrigendum of 27.11.1991 at Item No. 4, Private Secretaries to the Hon'ble Judges and Stenographers Grade I had their pay-scales revised in the following manner: Sr. No. Sr. No. in the High Court Notification No. A-1308/87 dt. July 3, 1987 Designation Present pay-scale shown in the High Court Notification No. A-1308/87, dt. July 3, 1987 Revised Pay-scale Remarks GAZETTED C LASS-II OFFIC ERS 4. 13 Private Secretaries to the Hon'ble Judges & Stenographer Gd. I 2000-60-2300- KB-75-3200- 100-3500 2000- 60- 2300- KB-75- 3200- 100- 3500 10% of the existing posts of stenographers Grade I (Gujarati, English), on the establishment of the High Court, be upgraded as private Secretaries in the pay-scale of Rs. 3000-100-3500-125-4500. 8. On the date of the writ petition, therefore, the Private Secretaries to the High Court Judges and Stenographers Grade I were in the pay-scale of Rs. 2000-3500; 10% of the existing posts of Stenographers Grade I, however, on the establishment of the High Court were upgraded as Private Secretaries in the pay-scale of Rs. 3000-100-3500-125-4500. This was also the position o....
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....orting to a mandamus to circumvent Article 229. When the writ petition was filed, the Chief Justice's recommendation to upgrade 10% of the posts had been accepted. And the Chief Justice had not made any recommendation for granting the upgraded pay-scale to all judges' secretaries. 13. The principle of equal pay for equal work was also invoked in this connection, presumably as between Private Secretaries of the High Court Judges and Private Secretaries to the Secretaries in the State Secretariat. However, as the original petitioners have themselves pointed out, the work done by the Private Secretaries to the High Court Judges is very different in nature from the work done by the Private Secretaries to the Secretaries of the Gujarat Government. There is, therefore, no question of equal work. However, since over the years parity has been maintained between the salary scales drawn by Stenographers Grade I in the State Secretariat and Stenographers Grade I-cum-Private Secretaries in the High Court, any increase in the pay-scales in the State Secretariat would lead to a legitimate expectation of similar increase for the High Court staff. Under the corrigendum of the High Court d....
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....hose Stenographers Grade I-cum-Private Secretaries who are otherwise in the pay-scale of Rs. 2000-3500, to prevent stagnation at the senior level. It may be, that in the Secretariat, by reason of their seniority, those who have completed 15 years of service and are selected on the basis of seniority-cum-merit, may be allotted to senior officers such as the Secretaries to the Government. The same may happen in the High Court. But this does not mean that the higher pay-scale is linked (except in the case of the Chief Justice possibly) to the officers whose Private Secretaries they are. The pay-scale is given to them in their own right, if they are selected for promotion to that pay-scale. 17. The respondents i.e. the original petitioners placed reliance upon a decision of the Delhi High Court in the case of A.K. Gulati v. Union of India 44 (1991) DLT 590 . The petitioners before the Delhi High Court were also Private Secretaries, but to the Judges of the Delhi High Court. Their original pay-scale of Rs. 775-1200 was revised to Rs. 2000-3500. The Private Secretaries contended before the Delhi High Court that the revised pay-scale for Rs. 775-1200 should have been Rs. 3000- 4500. The ....
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....igh Court Judges-cum-Stenographers Grade I are in the pay-scale of Rs. 2000-3500. 10% of these posts have been upgraded as promotional posts for Private Secretaries to the High Court Judges-cum-Stenographers Grade I. Therefore, the parity has been maintained. The financial position of a State Government also would be very different from the financial position of the Government of India or of the Delhi Administration. Therefore, when one is considering the pay-scales of Private Secretaries to the Judges of the State High Court, one must look for parity with the pay-scales in the Secretariat of that State rather than at the pay-scales granted by the Government of India in the Central Secretariat. 20. It is pointed out by the original petitioners who are respondents before us, that a special leave petition from the judgment of the Delhi High Court was dismissed. This, however, does not carry the matter any further. As against the view taken by the Delhi High Court, the Kerala High Court in O.P. No. 2716 of 1994 along with other connected cases, by its judgment dated 22nd of March, 1995 dismissed the writ petition filed by the employees of the Kerala High Court asking for parity of th....
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....s demanded by the employees of the Supreme Court, this Court has further observed, (at page 212 paragraph 36) "It is not the business of this Court to fix the pay-scales of the employees of any institution in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution. If there be violation of any fundamental right by virtue of any order or judgment, this Court can strike down the same but, surely, it is not within the province of this Court to fix the scale of pay of any employee in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution". In the above judgment this Court gave certain directions as agreed to by the Chief Justice of India, to the effect that the Chief Justice of India would consider the recommendations of the Fourth Pay Commission and frame suitable Rules by making necessary amendments to the existing Rules and forward the same to the President of India for his approval. 22. The Delhi High Court's judgment, therefore, can not be automatically applied nor can the Court direct that a particular pay-scale be given to its employees. Appropriate Rules would have to be framed by the Chief Justice of the State under Article 229 with the appr....
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....ndation appears to be based on the directions given in the judgment of the learned Single Judge, nothing further is required to be done in that connection in view of this judgment. Needless to add, the Chief Justice of a High Court can always exercise his powers under Article 229 in consonance with the terms thereof. 27. Civil appeal Nos. 401-402 of 1997 are, therefore allowed. The impugned judgment in these appeals is set aside, and the corrigendum dated 27.11.1991 issued under Article 229(2) of the Constitution is upheld. Civil Appeal No. 400/1997: 28. Civil Appeal No. 400 of 1997 is by one C.G. Govindan from the same judgment and order of the Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court dismissing his Letters Patent Appeal No. 441 of 1995 before it. The appellant Govindan is also a Private Secretary to a Judge of the Gujarat High Court. He had asked for his placement in the pay-scale of Rs. 3000-4500 from 1st of January, 1986 although he was at that time working as Private Secretary in the City Civil Court at Ahmedabad. He came to the High Court as a Private Secretary only in 1990. The High Court has rightly negatived his contention that he should get the benefit of the higher pa....
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....udgment dated October 10, 1996. 33. Appellant has submitted that the High Court wrongly proceeded on the footing that the Fourth Central Pay Commission had recommended the pay scale of Rs. 3000-4500 to Private Secretaries working with the officers drawing pay of Rs. 8000/- and that the pay scale of a post could not be dependent upon the pay of the officers with whom the incumbent was attached/working. It was, thus, contended that under no circumstance the pay scale of the Private Secretary could be dependent upon the pay of the Hon'ble Judge with whom the Private Secretary was attached. It was then submitted that the pay scale of Rs. 3000-4500 was by way of providing promotional avenues by upgrading the post and that the grant of pay scale of Rs. 3000-4500 to all the Private Secretaries of the Hon'ble Judges some of whom might have been newly recruited would create anomalous situation as there would be no distinction between a Private Secretary newly recruited and that who has put in long years of service. 34. In my view, the approach of the State Government in advancing such a plea is erroneous and a contradiction in terms. 35. By a Resolution dated October 24, 1986, th....
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....13 Private Secretaries to the Hon'ble Judges & Stenographer Gd. I 2000-60- 2300-KB- 75- 200-100- 3500 2000-60- 2300- KB-75- 3200-100- 33500 10% of the existing posts of stenographers Grade I (Gujarati, English), on the establishment of the High Court, be upgraded as private Secretaries in the pay-scale of Rs . 3000-100- 3500-125-4500. 36. Reference may be made at this stage to two decisions of this Court in Supreme Court Employees Welfare Association's case. The decision in Supreme Court Employees Welfare Association vs. Union of India & Anr. (1993) ILLJ 1094 SC is an off-shoot of its earlier decision in . Decision in the second case of Supreme Court Employees' Welfare Association has been given on various interlocutory applications filed in the earlier writ petition [W.P. (C) No. 801/86 and W.P. (C) No. 1201/86 reported in . In the earlier writ petition the prayer was that the staff of the Supreme Court of India be placed in higher scales of pay than what are admissible to the corresponding staff working in the Delhi High Court. A direction was also sought that as an interim measure the staff working in the Registry of the Supreme Court be paid the same pay scales....
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.... High Court of Delhi directing payment w.e.f. January 1, 1986 to various categories of employees of the said Court which order has been affirmed by this Court by dismissal of the special leave petition on March 25, 1992, earlier interim orders directing payment of pay scales of staff holding corresponding posts should also be revised till the Rules are framed under Article 146 of the Constitution. This Court allowed such a plea holding that the recommendations of the Committee of Judges which had been accepted by the Chief Justice of India can certainly form basis for issuing interim directions regarding payment of revised pay scales to the holders of different categories of posts within the Registry of this Court w.e.f. January 1, 1986. This Court has thus exercised powers, though by means of interim orders, in fixing pay-scales of staff of the Supreme Court under Article 146 which provisions are similar to those under Articles 229 of the Constitution applicable to staff of the High Court. 37. So far as parity of the Private Secretaries in the Secretariat and in the Gujarat High Court prior to the acceptance of the Fourth Central Pay Commission is concerned, the corrigendum issue....
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....y to the High Court Judge should be in a lower pay scale than the Private Secretary to an officer even lower in rank than the Chief Secretary? The argument of the State Government that a junior most stenographer when attached to a High Court Judge as a Private Secretary may draw a higher salary in the pay scale of Rs. 3000-4500 than the stenographer who might be senior and yet not attached to a High Court Judge is again without any basis. Rules can certainly be framed to overcome such a situation if at all it existed. A Private Secretary, who is joining the service after January 1, 1986, will be drawing less pay though in the same pay scale. 38. This Court in similar circumstance dismissed the appeals of Union of India and Delhi Administration in one case and that of the State of U.P. in another against the decisions of the Delhi High Court and Allahabad High Court respectively granting pay scale of Rs. 3000-4500 to Private Secretaries to the Judges of the High Courts. On this, an argument was raised that the special leave petitions in those cases had been dismissed in limits and it could not, therefore, be said that this Court approved the law laid by the High Court of Delhi and ....
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....rt of Allahabad States on instructions that this appeal is not pressed by the appellant. The appeal is dismissed as withdrawn." The SLP filed by the State of Uttar Pradesh was dismissed on the same day by the following order: "Delay condoned. The High Court of Allahabad has not pressed its appeal, i.e.. Civil Appeal No. 840/95 against the same judgment. Moreover, in view of the dismissal of the SLP (C) No. 13229/1991 decided on 26.8.91 (Union of India and Anr. Vs. Shri A.K. Gulati & Ors.) learned counsel for the petitioner-State of Uttar Pradesh is unable to support this Special leave petition. Accordingly, special leave petition if dismissed on merits.' This Court in Supreme Court Employees Welfare Association case 1993 Supp. (3) SCC 121 stated that the special leave to appeal No. 2594/92 was dismissed after hearing the parties concerned on March 25, 1991 saying that "No ground for interference was made out". All these lead only to one inference that this Court upheld the decision of the Delhi High Court in A. K. Gulati's case on merit holding that private Secretaries to the Judges of Delhi High Court were entitled to pay scale of 3000-4500. 41. ....
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....roval is a mere formality and in no case it is open to the Government to refuse to accord their approval. On the facts and in the circumstances of this case and in the background of the conditions which are prevalent in other States Government could have been well-advised to accord approval to the suggestion of the Chief Justice, as the suggestion was nothing more than to equate the pay scales of the High Court staff with those of the equivalent posts in the Secretariat. That merely because the government is not right in accepting the Chief Justice's view and refusing to accord the approval is no ground for holding that by a writ of mandamus the Government may be directed to accord the approval. The High Court staff has not always been treated at par with the Secretarial staff in the matters of scales of pay. The matter has been taken up in the Chief Justices' Conference and with several State Governments. Most of them have acceded to the request of the High Court to bring its staff at par with the Secretariat staff in the matter of pay etc. It is, however, not possible to take the view that merely because the State Government does not see its way to give the required appro....
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....ujarat perform work which is different than that performed by the Private Secretary to the Judges of Delhi High Court. Judges of the High Courts in all High Courts perform same duties of their office and Private Secretaries attached to them per force perform the same work in every High Court. The contentions that financial position of a State does not warrant payment of higher scale of pay to the Private Secretaries of the Judges of the High Court cannot be given any credence without more. A Court is to guard itself against such a submission when advanced without any particulars though in first instance it may appear to be attractive. It is stated that a special leave petition against the aforesaid judgment of the Kerala High Court was Dismissed by This Court in limine but that is of no consequence insofar as the controversy in the present case before us is concerned. 45. After judgment dated 9/10th March, 1995 of learned single Judge (M.R. Calla, J.) in writ petition filed by the Private Secretaries to the Judges of Gujarat High Court, Chief Justice of the High Court prepared a detailed note dated June 30, 1995. He took into account the judgment of the Delhi High Court in A.K. Gu....
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....High Court in view of the decision given in the case of A.K. Gulati. Therefore, in upheld by the Supreme Court of India, and also in view of the directions given by Mr. Justice Calla vide his judgment dated 9th/10th March 1995 in Special Civil Application Nos. 12921 of 1995 and 3601 of 1994 and keeping in view the recommendations contained in paragraph 9.39 of Chapter IX of the Report of the Fourth Central Pay Commission read with the Resolution dated 24.10.1986 of the Govt. of Gujarat, I decide, as directed in the aforesaid judgment, that the pay-scale of all the Private Secretaries to the Hon'ble Judges of the Gujarat High Court should be that of Rs. 3000-4500. Fourthermore, as per the direction given in the case of A.K. Gulati the higher pay scale should be effected from 1.1.1986." It was against the judgment of the learned single Judge State of Gujarat filed Letters Patent Appeal in the High Court, which was dismissed by the Division Bench by judgment dated October 10, 1996 which is impugned. 49. Meanwhile, when the matter was referred by the Chief Justice, Gujarat High Court to the State Government in terms of aforesaid note, counsel for the State of Gujarat at the ....
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....stice of India relating to salaries, allowances, leave or pensions, but it is equally true that when such rules have been framed by a very high dignitary of the State, it should be looked upon with respect and unless there is very good reason not to grant approval, the approval should always be granted. If the President of India is of the view that the approval cannot be granted, he cannot straightway refuse to grant such approval, but before doing so, there must be exchange of thoughts between the President of India and the Chief Justice of India." 51. It has been said that grant of higher pay sale of Rs. 3000-4500 was to provide promotional avenues for members of the Secretarial Service. To my mind that is one way of looking at the things. Reference may be made to the Office Memorandum dated October 7, 1987, issued by the Government of India in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (Department of Personnel and Training). First para of this Office Memorandum is as under:- "The undersigned is directed to say that the recommendation of the Fourth Central Pay Commission that in the Central Secretariat Stenographer Service the posts of Private Secretar....
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....scrap the report of the Gujarat State Third Pay Commission and to accept, in principle, the recommendations of the Fourth Central Pay Commission. The Committee, which the State Government appointed to examine the representations of the Gujarat Sachivalaya and the Allied Officers Stenographers Association, had found justification to upgrade certain posts of senior most Private Secretaries to the scale of Rs. 3000-4500 equivalent to the number of officers of the rank of Additional Chief Secretary and above in the Secretariat. Thereafter, the State Government decided that 10% of the existing posts of Private Secretaries cadre may be upgraded in the pay-scale of Rs. 3000-4500 with certain riders. The effect of this has been that Private Secretaries working with the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary and other officers of the similar rank were given the pay scale of Rs. 3000-4500. We have not been given any instance where any such officer has a private secretary in a lower scale of pay. Not only that officers even lower in rank to that of Additional Chief Secretary are having Private Secretaries in the pay-scale of Rs. 3000-4500. The result of the decision of the State Governme....