THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO : 8327 of 2010 Dated: 19.4.2010 Between: 1. The Union of India rep., by the Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Sastry Bhavan, New Delhi and others. ..PETITIONERS And V. Prabhakaran and another. ..RESPONDENTS This Court made the following: THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO :8327 of 2010 ORAL ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri. Justice Ghulam Mohammed) This writ petition is filed by the petitioners in the nature of Writ of Certiorari seeking to call for the records with regard to the order dated 25.11.2009 passed in O.A.No.266 of 2008 by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad and to quash the same. 2. The 1st respondent herein is the applicant and petitioners 1 to 3 are the respondents before the Tribunal. For the sake of convenience, the status of the parties will hereinafter be referred to as arrayed in the O.A. 3. The applicant filed the above O.A. seeking a direction to the respondents-authorities to grant upgraded scale of pay of Rs.5000-– 8000 w.e.f. 1.1.1996 on par with the draftsmen of Geological Survey of India (G.S.I) with all consequential benefits by setting aside the letter No.27/147/2007/M-II dated 14.11.2007 issued by the 1st respondent rejecting his request for upgradation to the scale of pay of Rs.5000- 8000 with effect from 1.1.1996. 4. The case of the applicant reads as hereunder: He was initially appointed as Junior Scriber in the Geological Survey of India in the pay scale of Rs.330-560 in October, 1979. The Map Printing Press of Geological Survey of India, Hyderabad has 3 grades of scribers viz., Head Scriber, Senior Scriber and Junior Scriber with recruitment rules similar to Senior Technical Assistant (Drawing Office), Junior Technical Assistant (Drawing Office) and Draftsmen under Drawing Office stream of the Geological Survey of India. The recruitment rules for the scribing stream and the drawing office stream are almost identical at the entry points of both the streams i.e., draftsman in Drawing Office stream and Junior Scriber in the Scribing stream. Recognizing the fact that scribing is a most sophisticated function, the initial recruitment to the scribing stream is made in the pay scale of Rs.330-560 with the designation of Junior Scriber whereas the initial recruitment to the post of Draftsmen in the Drawing Office stream carries the pay scale of Rs.260-400 only. The pay scale of Draftsmen has been upgraded from Rs.260-400 to Rs.330-560 with effect from 1.11.1983 on the basis of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) Award vide Ministry of Steel & Mines, Department of Mines, letter dated 1.7.1985 and it was implemented by the Director General, Geological Survey of India, Calcutta vide his letter dated 15.10.1985 on the basis of the Government of India office memo dated 13.3.1984, as a result of which, the draftsman who joined originally in the grade of Rs.260-400 is placed in the grade of Rs.425-700 (Rs.1400-2300 RSRP) whereas the scribers (Junior who joined in a higher scale of Rs.330-560 (Rs.1200 –2020 RSRP)) remained in the lower scale even after 7 to 10 years of service. Aggrieved by the denial of revised pay scale of Rs.425-700, the scribers submitted a representation on 25.3.1986 to the Director General, Geological Survey of India, Calcutta requesting for grant of revised pay scale on par with the Draftsmen stream on the basis of CPWD Award. But, no action had been taken on the said representations. Subsequently, the officials informed that the Ministry clarified that the scribing stream is not covered under the CPWD Award. Though the Director General once again wrote a letter on 25.4.1988 to the Ministry of Steel & Mines to reconsider the question of extending the benefits of CPWD Award to scribing stream also. But, the same was rejected by the Ministry vide their letter dated 8.12.1988. Hence, the applicant along with others filed O.A.No.66 of 1989 and the said O.A. was allowed and accordingly, the applicant herein was granted the pay scale of Rs.4500-7000 w.e.f. 1.1.1996 as per the recommendations of VCPC on par with the draftsmen, who were in the same pay scale. While so, the 1st respondent placed the Draftsmen in the pay scale of Rs.5000-8000 w.e.f. 1.1.1996 while retaining the scribers in the lower scale of pay. On the representations made, the 3rd respondent granted the pay scale of Rs.5000-8000 w.e.f.1.1.1996 to the applicant and another scriber vide his order dated 31.1.2005. However, the said order was cancelled by the 3rd respondent without assigning any reasons. Thereafter, the applicant submitted reminders to respondents 1 and 2 for upgradation of his scale on par with the draftsmen. The 1st respondent vide his letter dated 14.11.2007 addressed to the 2nd respondent stated that the Ministry of Finance will not entertain the proposal of the upgradation of pay on the ground that the VI Pay Commission has been constituted. Questioning the said letter, the applicant filed the present O.A. 5. The Tribunal allowed the said O.A. Feeling aggrieved by the same, the present writ petition has been filed by the authorities. 6. Heard the learned Assistant Solicitor General of India and perused the material on record. 7. It is the contention of the learned Assistant Solicitor General that the petitioners-authorities implemented the order of the Tribunal in O.A.No.66 of 1989 and V Pay Commission has recommended the same pay scale to Scribers and Draftsmen and subsequently, the Government had upgraded the pay scale of drartsmen to Rs.5000- 8000 w.e.f. 1.1.1996 in compliance of the orders of CAT Kolkata Bench in O.A.No.1013 of 1999 and that the judgment of Kolkata CAT cannot be extended to the scribers automatically. It is further contended that after implementation of the VI pay commission w.e.f. 1.1.2006 the pay scales of Draftsmen and scribers are placed in Pay Band-2 with the relevant same grade pay and there is no pay anomaly after the implementation of the VI Pay Commission recommendations. It is further submitted that the draftsmen stream and scribers stream differ in basic qualification and recruitment rules and also the nature of duties and the Tribunal had not appreciated the circumstances and manner in which the pay scale of draftsmen is upgraded. 8. On a perusal of the material on record, it is obvious that this is the 2nd round of litigation. In a similar situation, on the earlier occasion, the applicant herein along with others approached the Tribunal by filing O.A.No.66 of 1989 and in the said O.A., the Tribunal had categorically held as follows: “The Government ought to have appreciated the recommendation of the department as they have done in the case of the recommendations made in the Awards with regard to the draftsmen. So, it is a fit case to equalize the pay scales of the scribers on par with the draftsmen.” The Tribunal had categorically held in O.A.No.66 of 1989 that the applicants are entitled to be treated on par with the Draftsmen and the benefit with regard to the pay scales of the applicants shall be extended as that of the Draftsmen. It appears that the said decision has become final. If that being the case, denial of the same benefit at every stage amounts to arbitrariness. Therefore, the action of the authorities in denying the pay scale to the applicants on par with the draftsmen at every stage, leads to draw an adverse inference that the said action is not justifiable. 9. In these circumstances, we have no hesitation to hold that the order of the Tribunal does not suffer from any irregularity and illegality warranting interference by this Court. Hence, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. No order as to costs. __________________________ Justice Ghulam Mohammed __________________________ Justice G. Bhavani Prasad Date: 19.4.2010 Nn THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO : 8327 OF 2010 (Order delivered by Hon’ble Sri Justice Ghulam Mohammed) 19.04.2010