CWP No.5599 of 2011 -1- In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision: 29.04.2011 Prem Dass and others Vs. State of Punjab and others CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI Present: Mr.KK Kahlon, Advocate,for the petitioners. Mr.Puneet Gupta, Addl. AG, Punjab. PERMOD KOHLI, J. (Oral): Notice of motion. On the asking of the Court, Mr. Puneet Gupta, Addl. AG, Punjab, accepts notice on behalf of the respondents. Requisite number of copies of the paper book have been supplied to him today itself in Court. With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, this petition is being disposed of at the motion stage without insisting for the reply. The petitioners are working as Pump Operators in the respondent-department. They joined their services in the respondent- department on different dates. They all possess the requisite qualifications for the post in question. Petitioner No.5 has retired from service on 10.11.2010. They have been given the unrevised scale of Rs.100-160/- whereas they ought to have been granted the revised pay scale . The grievance of the petitioners in this case is that despite being eligible to a pay scale of Rs.140-300/-, the same has not been granted to them. It is agreed to by the learned counsel for the parties that the CWP No.5599 of 2011 -2- controversy involved in the present writ petition is squarely covered by a decision rendered by this Court in the case of Rajinder Pal Gautam & others Vs. State of Punjab and others, (CWP No.10759 of 1990) on 30.05.2008, as modified in LPA No.44 of 2009, decided on 15.2.2010 wherein it has been held as under:- “In such circumstances, objection that recommendation of Pay Commission cannot be per se acted upon or that Court cannot go into the question of equation of pay, cannot be upheld. Recommendation of the Commission has been accepted by the State for other categories without holding that Pump Operators were a different class. Plea of financial implications is taken care of by statement of learned counsel for the petitioners not to press for arrears. The claim of the writ petitions for scale corresponding to the scale of Rs.140- 300/-, is thus, clearly made out. Since claim for arrears has been given up and is also held to be otherwise unacceptable, the State is liable to be directed to pass appropriate orders effective from today. The impugned judgment will stand modified accordingly. The State may pass appropriate orders for grant of corresponding scale from today, within one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The appeal is disposed of accordingly.” CWP No.5599 of 2011 -3- The ratio of the aforesaid judgment is fully applicable to the facts of the present case. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed. The petitioners are held entitled to the same relief as has been granted in the aforesaid LPA. The pay of the petitioners are directed to be fixed accordingly. No costs. 29.04.2011 (PERMOD KOHLI) BLS JUDGE