C.W.P. No. 18173 of 2008 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. C.W.P. No. 18173 of 2008 Date of Decision : April 28, 2011 Roop Singh, Skilled Helper, office of Executive Engineer, Coal Handling Plant and others .... PETITIONERS Vs. Punjab State Electricity Board, Patiala and others ..... RESPONDENTS CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH * * * Present : Mr. Gurnam Singh, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. J.S.Bhatti, Advocate, for respondents No. 1 to 3. * * * AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (ORAL) Counsel for the petitioners has restricted his claim in the present writ petition to the grant of pay scale to the petitioners for the work which is being taken from the petitioners although they have been given appointment to a lower post. The details of this assertion have been made in para-15 of the writ petition. On a perusal of the reply, the said fact has not been denied by the respondents and the counsel for the respondents has not been able to C.W.P. No. 18173 of 2008 2 controvert this fact, as asserted by the petitioners in the writ petition. The only objection, which has been raised by the counsel for the respondents, is that the claim of the petitioners is highly belated and they are not entitled to the same because they have approached this Court after a delay of about 16 years. He further states that there has been no representation by the petitioners. Even if the contention, as raised by the counsel for the respondents, is accepted, the claim of the petitioners, on the basis of their work which is being taken from them, is fully justified. The only relief, which they are not entitled to, is from the date when they started performing the duties of higher post. However, they would be entitled to, in the light of admission made by the respondents in their reply and the submission made by the counsel for the respondents, the arrears from 3 years and 2 months prior to the filing of the writ petition. The present writ petition is allowed subject to restricting their claim of arrears to the said period. The petitioners are held entitled to the pay of the post of which they are performing duties and the respondents are taking work from them on the basis of principle of equal pay for equal work. The arrears of pay be released to the petitioner within a period of three months' from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. (AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) April 28, 2011 JUDGE pj