Letters Patent Appeal No.290 OF 2006 -- - - - Against the judgment and order dated 6th December 2005 passed in C.W.J.C.No. 3990 of 2004. - - - - THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS-----------------------Appellant. Versus BIHAR RAJYA UTPAD SIPAHI MAHAS-------Respondents. For the Appellant : Mr. Lalit Kishore,A.A.G.III Mr. Piyush Lall,JC to AAG-III For the Respondents : M/s Md. Khurshid Alam, Arun Kumar Bhagat & Samir Kumar Singh,Advs. P R E S E N T THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE BARIN GHOSH THE HON' BLE MR. JUSTICE CHANDRA MOHAN PRASAD. Barin Ghosh & C.M.Prasad,JJ Constables in the Excise Department of the State were not at par with the constables of the State Police and other similar constables. They were however, brought at par while the 4th Pay Revision Commission Report was accepted and implemented by the State Government. Since then, the constables of the State Police and the constables of excise Department of the State started drawing salaries in the same scale. After 5th Central Pay Commission Report was implemented in relation to the employees of the Central Government, the State Government decided to give the same benefit to the employees of the state Government, at par with the employees of the Central Government. For that - 2 - purpose a fitment Committee was appointed by the State Government. The principal obligation of the Fitment Committee was to ascertain which employee of the Central Government obtained what scale of pay and to make the same available to similar employee of the State Government. The Fitment Committee made an exercise to that effect and found that the sepoys in the Narcotic Department of the Central Government have been granted a particular scale. They also expressly noted in their report submitted to the State Government that constables in the Central Excise Department are also entitled to same scale of pay as sepoys in the Narcotic Department were entitled to. The Committee, therefore, recommended fitment of constables in the Excise Department of the State in the pay scaled of sepoys of the Narcotic Department of the Central Government. The State Government accepted the report of the Fitment Committee in relation to constables of Excise Department and, accordingly, accorded to constables of Excise Department the scale of pay as was made applicable to the sepoys of the Narcotic Department of the Central Government. As a result of grant of such scale to the - 3 - constable of excise Department, they became entitled to less than the constables of the Bihar State Police. The constables of the Excise Department, accordingly, approached the appellate authority. The appellate authority enhanced the pay scale of constable of Excise Department and thereby matched them with the pay scale of constables of State Police. The recommendation of the appellate Committee was not accepted by the State Government and that resulted in filing of the writ petition by the Association of constables of Excise Department. The writ petition having been allowed, principally on the ground that the constables of Excise Department were at par with the constables of the State Police, the present appeal has been preferred by the appellant State contending that the decision of the State was to give matching scale and if the constables of the excise Department in the Central Government were receiving what had been given to the constables of the excise Department of the State on the basis of the recommendation of the Fitment Committee, there was no scope of interference. There is no dispute that the State Government did - 4 - not decide to go into the question as to what should be the appropriate salary or remuneration of its employees. It only decided to give the same pay to its employees as the employees of the Central Government became entitled to. In view of the report of the Fitment Committee, the State proceeded on the basis that the constables of the Central Excise Department have been fitted in the same scale as that of sepoys of Narcotic Department of the Central Government. The constables of the Central Excise department, as has come on record, were, however, gifted after implementation of the 5th Central Pay Revision Commission Report, in a scale higher than the scale in which the sepoys of the Narcotic Department of the Central Government were fitted after implementation of the 5th Central Pay Commission Report. In the event the Fitment Committee had gathered the scale of pay of constables of Central Excise Department after implementation of the 5th Central Pay Commission Report, it could not make the recommendation, as it made, in relation to constables of the Excise Department of the State. There is no difference in the pay scale of constables of Excise Department of the Central - 5 - Government and the constables of the State Police. For the reasons as above, we find no reason to interfere with the judgment and order under appeal. The appeal fails and the same is dismissed. Patna High Court Dd. 10th September08 N.A.F.R. Jay/ (Barin Ghosh,J) (C.M.Prasad,J)