-1- Civil Writ Petition No.11336 of 2007. IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH ... Date of Decision: April 10, 2008. Braham Singh and others ... Petitioners VERSUS State of Haryana and others ... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA. HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MOHINDER PAL. 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ? Present: Mr. Saurabh Bajaj, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr.Ajay Gupta, Senior Deputy Advocate General, Haryana, for respondents Nos. 1 and 2. -.- MOHINDER PAL, J. The petitioners are working as Laboratory Assistants (Matric + Science) in I.B. College, Panipat (hereinafter referred to as `the respondent-College'), which is Government aided. The -2- Civil Writ Petition No.11336 of 2007. eligibility criteria for the appointment of Laboratory Assistants (Matric + Science) is same in the respondent-College as in the Government Colleges. The claim of the petitioners is that they are entitled to same scales of pay which are being given to Laboratory Assistants (Matric + Science) working in Government Colleges. The petitioners made various representations to the respondents for this purpose, but to no effect. Then they served legal notice dated September 20, 2006 (Annexure P-6), which too bore no result. Thereafter, they filed Civil Writ Petition No.20446 of 2006 in this Court for the grant of pay scales at par with the employees similarly situated in the Government Colleges with effect from July 20, 1982. This writ petition was disposed of vide order dated December 22, 2006 by directing the State Government to expeditiously decide the grievance of the petitioners regarding parity of pay scales. In compliance with the order of this Court, Higher Education Commissioner, Haryana, Chandigarh, passed the order dated April 27, 2007 (annexed with Annexure P-10) rejecting the claim of the petitioners made in the legal notice dated September 20, 2006 (Annexure P-6). Hence this writ petition. In the written statement filed by respondents Nos. 1 and 2, it has been pleaded that principle of equal pay for equal work cannot be invoked where working conditions are substantially different. It is pleaded that Government employees have quite different working conditions as compared to the -3- Civil Writ Petition No.11336 of 2007. employees of Private Aided Colleges. For example, the Government employees work on a transferable basis and the employees retire at the age of 58 years. In the Private Colleges, the employees retire at the age of 60 years and their jobs are non-transferable. We have heard Mr. Saurabh Bajaj, Advocate, appearing for the petitioners and Mr.Ajay Gupta, Senior Deputy Advocate General, Haryana, appearing for respondents Nos. 1 and 2 and have perused the records. Learned counsel for the petitioners has cited the case of Haryana State Adhyapak Sangh and others v. State of Haryana and others, 1990 (1) Recent Services Judgments 444 wherein it was held as under:- “ xx xx xx. It is, therefore, incumbent upon respondents to revise the pay scales of teachers employed in the aided schools so as to bring the same at par with the pay scales of the teachers employed in Government schools with effect from January 01, 1986 and fix the salaries of the teachers employed in aided schools in the revised pay scales with effect from January 01, 1986 and pay the salaries and Dearness Allowance to these teachers on that basis. -4- Civil Writ Petition No.11336 of 2007. The above observations of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, no doubt, are in respect of the pay scales of the teaching staff employed in the aided schools so as to bring the same at par with the pay scales of the teachers employed in Government schools, but in principle the observations are applicable to the non-teaching staff as well. In para No.15-A of the writ petition, it has been alleged by the petitioners that the other non-teaching staff in the respondent-College i.e Clerk, Peon etc. are getting the similar pay as their counterparts in the Government Colleges, but this benefit has been denied to them. In Para 15-B of the writ petition, it has further been pleaded by the petitioners that Laboratory Attendants (Matric with Science) in the Government Aided Schools in Haryana are also getting the similar pay scales as their counterparts in the Government Schools. However, the petitioners have been deprived of the same. There is no satisfactory reply to these averments of the petitioners in the written statement. Impliedly, these averments have been admitted by the respondents. For the aforesaid reasons, this writ petition succeeds. The respondents are directed to grant parity to the petitioners in the matter of pay scales with the pay scales as granted, from time to time, by the Government of Haryana to the employees similarly situated in the Government Colleges with effect from the dates the petitioners became eligible thereto after their induction into the respondent-College. The -5- Civil Writ Petition No.11336 of 2007. petitioners will be entitled to all the consequential benefits flowing from the fixation of their pay as such. However, the arrears of pay will be restricted to three years preceding the filing of this writ petition. ( HEMANT GUPTA ) ( MOHINDER PAL ) JUDGE JUDGE April 10, 2008. ak