C.W.P. No. 3527 of 1991 [ 1 ] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No. 3527 of 1991 Date of Decision: July 26, 2010 Ram Parkash and others .................................................... Petitioners Versus The State of Punjab and another .................................... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ashutosh Mohunta Present: Mr. D.K.Kaushal, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Rajesh Bhardwaj, Addl. A.G. Punjab. ... ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA, J. (Oral) This judgment shall dispose of C.W.P. Nos. 3527 of 1991 and 17652 of 2007 as common question of law and facts arise in both these writ petitions. For the sake of convenience, facts have been extracted from C.W.P. No. 3527 of 1991. The petitioners, who are working as ECG Technicians in Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, have prayed that they be given the same pay scale as given to other ECG Technicians working under the Director, Health and Family Welfare Department in different Headquarters. Briefly the facts of the case are that prior to 1973 the petitioners were working as ECG Technicians under the control of Director, Health C.W.P. No. 3527 of 1991 [ 2 ] Services Punjab. This Directorate was bifurcated into two separate departments i.e. Department of Health and Family Welfare and Department of Research and Medical Education. The petitioners started serving under the control of Director, Research and Medical Education. Thereafter, the petitioners were attached to different Medical Colleges and were paid in the pay scale of Rs.120-250/- which was upgraded to Rs.400-660/-. As there was no post of ECG Technicians in the Department of Health and Family Welfare, therefore, in the year 1982 posts of ECG Technicians were created in different District Head Quarters Hospitals in the State of Punjab which came under the control of Health and Family Welfare in the pay scale of Rs.450-800/-. Thus, the pay scale given to the ECG Technicians who were under the control of respondent No.1 was higher than the one given to ECG Technicians who came under the control of respondent No.2. It is the case of the petitioners that as the duties of ECG Technicians working in both the aforementioned departments are the same, therefore, the petitioners be given the same pay scale as ECG Technicians working under the Director, Health and Family Welfare. The petitioners have placed reliance on Annexure P-3 which is a letter written by Principal, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, to the Director, Research & Medical Education, Punjab, wherein it has been recommended that as the duties of the ECG Technicians are the same, therefore, same pay scale should be given to the ECG Technicians working in both the departments. Reply has been filed on behalf of respondent Nos. 1 and 2 wherein it has been averred that the qualifications of the Technicians working under the aforementioned departments are different. The qualifications of ECG Technicians in the departments mentioned above are C.W.P. No. 3527 of 1991 [ 3 ] as under:- Qualifications of E.C.G. Technicians working under the Deptt. Of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab Qualifications of E.C.G. Technicians working under the Deptt. Of Research and Medical Edu. Punjab i) Matric with Science. i) Matric with Science. ii) Diploma of Electrocardiographer OR Two years experience as Electrocardiographer in big hospital. ii) Atleast one year experience in a recognised institution in the line of hospital setting OR Physiology Laboratory. iii) Punjabi up to Matric level. iii) Punjabi up to Matric level. A perusal of the aforementioned qualification shows that the educational qualifications are the same as per items (i) and (iii) are concerned. As far as item (ii) is concerned, the only difference between the ECG Technicians who are working under the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, is that they require two years experience as Electrocardiographer in big hospital whereas the ECG Technicians who are working under the Department of Research and Medical Education, Punjab, require experience of one year only in a recognised institution in the line of hospital setting or Physiology Laboratory. As far as qualifications are concerned, they are the same and there is only a slight difference in the experience. The petitioners have been doing research work also and, thus, they cannot be given a lesser pay scale than the ECG Technicians who are working in the Department of Health and Family Welfare. In view of the above, keeping in view the recommendations (Annexure P3) as well as the fact that the duties of ECG Technicians working in the Department of Research and Medical Education, Punjab and the ECG Technicians working in the Health and Family Welfare Department are the same, therefore, the petitioners cannot be given lesser C.W.P. No. 3527 of 1991 [ 4 ] pay scales than their counter-parts. Resultantly, this writ petition is allowed and it is directed that the petitioners be given the selection grade in the same manner as the ECG Technicians working in the Department of Health and Family Welfare from the date of filing of the writ petition. The petitioners shall be entitled to all the consequential benefits. 26.7.2010 ( ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA ) Rupi JUDGE