1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.1476 of 1994 Anilkumar s/o. Bhagwat Chaudhari Age 36 years, Occ. Service, Overseer, Bhusawal Municipal Council Bhusawal, Dist. Jalgaon. Petitioner Versus 1] The State of Maharashtra 2] The Secretary Urban Development Department, Mantralaya, Bombay-32. 3] The Director of Municipal Administration, New Admn. Building, 15th Floor, Bombay 4] Bhusawal Municipal Council, Bhusawal (through its Chief Officer). Respondents Mr. Pradeep Deshmukh, Advocate holding for Mrs. Smita Deshpande, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. K.G. Patil, AGP for the respondents. CORAM : B.R. GAVAI & S.V. GANGAPURWALA,JJ. DATE : 24TH JUNE, 2010. ORAL JUDGMENT [ PER B.R. GAVAI,J.] : 2 1] The grievance of the petitioner is that, in pursuance to the Govt. Resolution dated 16th April, 1984, the petitioner is entitled to the status of a Class II employee w.e.f. 1/4/1981, since the petitioner fulfills the requirements of having a Diploma in engineer of 3 years and 5 years of experience. It is submitted by Shri Deshmukh, learned counsel for the petitioner that the Govt. Resolution dated 16th April, 1984 has been made applicable to the employees of the various Zilla Parishads and also to the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran, which is under the control of the Urban Development Department of the State of Maharashtra, the same has not been made applicable to the employees of the Municipal Council, Bhusawal and this has resulted in patently discriminatory treatment. He submits that since the nature of the duties of Engineers working in the various departments of the State of Maharashtra are identical, the petitioner is also equally entitled to the pay scale of a Gazetted Engineer on the principle of `equal pay – equal work'. 2] Shri Patil, learned AGP appearing on behalf o the State vehemently opposes the petition. He submits that the employees of the Municipal Council stands as a different class, as compared to the employees of the State Government. It is , therefore, submitted that the claim of the petitioner that merely because the employees of the State Government are getting higher pay scale, the employees of the Municipal Council also should get the same, is without any substance. 3] From the perusal of the record, it would reveal that the Municipal Council, Bhusawal, vide its Resolution dated 9th January, 3 1985, had granted administrative approval to the grant of higher pay scale to the petitioner in the pay scale of Rs.600-30-750-40-950. From the perusal of the record, it would reveal that the Director of Municipal Administration himself has granted approval to the proposals of some of the Municipal Councils, for changing of the post of Overseer into that of Junior Engineer. Some of such Municipal Councils are, Municipal Councils - Ichalkaranji, Pandharpur, Kopargaon, Chalisgaon, Mahad etc. From the perusal of the orders passed by the Director of Municipal Administration dated 3/6/2004, it would reveal that the said authority has taken into consideration the resolution passed by the Municipal Council dated 9th January, 1985. 4] We are of the considered view that when, in case of various other Municipal Councils, the post of Overseer has been permitted to be changed into that of Junior Engineer and higher pay scale has been granted, it was at least necessary on the part of the authority to have considered the resolution passed by the Municipal Council, regarding grant of higher pay scale to the petitioner. The authority was also expected to consider as to why approval to the proposal of the Municipal Council Bhusawal, should not be granted when it has been granted in case of other municipal councils. The Director of Municipal Administration, on the basis of the material available on record, ought to have taken these aspects into consideration. However, it appears that the order dated 3/6/2004, on which reliance is placed by the learned AGP, has been passed by the Director of Municipal Administration without considering these aspects of the matter. 4 5] We are, therefore, inclined to partly allow the petition, by directing the Director of Municipal Administration, to consider the case of the petitioner alongwith the proposal submitted by the Bhusawal Municipal Council, vide resolution by it, dated 9th January, 1985. We expect the Director of Municipal Administration to complete this exercise within a period of 3 months from today, after giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner as well as the Bhusawal Municipal Council. Rule made absolute in above terms, with no orders as to costs. [S.V. GANGAPURWALA,J.] [B.R. GAVAI,J.] grt/wp