CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.3901 OF 1988 :{ 1 }: IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH DATE OF DECISION: JULY 29, 2008 Lachhman Singh and others .....Petitioners VERSUS State of Haryana and others ....Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RANJIT SINGH 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgement? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? PRESENT: None for the petitioners. Mr. Yashwinder Singh, AAG, Haryana, for the State. **** RANJIT SINGH, J. (ORAL) The petitioners working as Lab. Attendants at Government College for Boys, Hisar, and having middle pass qualification, have filed this petition, seeking salary as being paid to other Lab. Attendants having Matriculation qualifications. The petitioners were appointed as Lab. Attendants on different dates between the years 1961 and 1973. The qualification for the post of Lab. Attendant, as per the Government requirement is middle or matric pass. The post is stated to be Class IV post. The Lab. Attendants, as per the averments made in the petition, are CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.3901 OF 1988 :{ 2 }: required to perform the following duties:- “i. He will clean labs., Museum, Lecture rooms and other rooms in the Deptt. Concerned and personally clean sinks, brasswares corridors, fans etc. In case of zoo Deptt. The Lab. Attendant will remove the Dissection animals when asked. ii. He will assist the Junior Lab. Assistant in carrying the apparatus etc. required for the Lecture work and practicals.” The petitioners have passed middle class and are satisfactorily performing the duties of Lab. Attendants as are being performed by some other persons appointed as such having qualification of Matric. As can be seen, the petitioners are in service from the year 1961 onwards and have, thus, acquired a long experience on the job. Their grievance is that they are being paid in the grade of Rs.775-1025 whereas the Lab. Attendants with matric qualification are being paid in the grade of Rs.950-1500. The petitioners would submit that there is no distinction in the duties assigned and performed by the petitioners and by those Lab. Attendants who are having matric qualification. They accordingly pray for being paid equivalent scale to those Lab. Attendants having matric qualification and who are being paid in the grade of Rs.950- 1500. The petitioners seems to urge that there is no reasonable basis for giving them lower pay scale as compared to other Lab. Attendants who are performing same or similar and identical nature CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.3901 OF 1988 :{ 3 }: of duties. Notice of motion in this case was issued. Reply has been filed. The writ petition was admitted on 15.11.1988. It is not disputed that the Lab. Attendant with matric qualification are being paid higher salary in the grade of Rs.950- 1500. The only justification, as given in the reply, is that this higher grade is being paid to such Lab. Attendants who are having higher qualification i.e. Matric. It is further stated that non-matriculate Lab. Attendants constitute a separate category and, thus, this would be a reasonable basis for classification. The allegation of discrimination is accordingly denied. The facts, as such, are not in much dispute. The only question, which would require determination is whether the State is justified in making a classification on the basis of qualification, even though the persons appointed to the post are carrying out the same and identical duties. The reasoning for which the petitioners, though not having matric as a qualification, were appointed, would be found in Annexure R-1 annexed with the reply. It can be noticed that the Government had issued Memo No.29/4-60-C dated 2.2.1961 addressed to the Principals of all Government Colleges in the State, stating that representation had been received from head of various educational Institutions that persons possessing qualification of matric with science prescribed for the post of Lab. Attendant/Assistant are either not available or they do not stick to their job for long. The difficulty, accordingly, was expressed that CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.3901 OF 1988 :{ 4 }: teaching work used to suffer as a result of this situation. The matter accordingly was considered by the Department and it was decided that the person who has studied upto 8th class and has taken science as one of the subject in the said Class, can be appointed against the post of Lab. Attendant/Assistant in the pay scale of Rs.32-1-42 provided matriculates with science are not available. It would, thus, be seen that qualification for appointment to the post of Lab. Attendant was relaxed and the person with Middle qualification having taken science as a subject was held eligible for appointment to the post of Lab.Attendant. They were to have the same grade of pay as was available and was being granted to those Lab. Attendants who were appointed with matriculation as their qualification. The petitioners apparently were appointed in view of relaxation in their qualification as made through memo dated 2.2.1961. All the petitioners have been appointed subsequent to this date. It is, thus, clear that the petitioners when appointed as Lab.Attendants were to be appointed in the grade of Rs.32-1-42 as provided to the matriculate Lab.Attendants. There was no intention either expressed or otherwise made out for appointment of such candidates as the petitioners having lesser qualification to be appointed in any grade lower than that was available to those persons having matriculation as their qualification. It is also not disputed before me that the Lab.Attendants having matric as qualification are in the pay scale of Rs.950-1500 whereas the petitioners were being given the scale of Rs.775-1925/- as on CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.3901 OF 1988 :{ 5 }: 1.1.1986. This distinction appears to have been continued even after 1.1.1986, when the recommendations of Vth Pay Commission were implemented. There is no dispute that all the Lab.Attendants are performing the same duties and there is no distinction in that regard. When two persons are performing the same or identical nature of duties, it would not be appropriate to classify them in a different pay scale only on the basis of qualification, which is minimum. Matric is a minimum qualification for being appointed as a Lab.Attendant and can not be taken into consideration as a higher qualification. This educational qualification was relaxed by the Government, making the petitioners eligible for being appointed as Lab.Attendants. The matric qualification still can not be considered as a higher qualification for classifying such persons as a different class. This would be moreso when viewed in the background that the nature of duties are exactly identical and similar in both the cases. If different pay scale is allowed to those Lab.Attendants having matric as a qualification vis- a-vis those with middle qualification, it may lead to discrimination. The question required to be seen is not whether there is some inequality but whether there is some difference which bears a just and reasonable relation to the object to be achieved. It is to be shown that differentiation is reasonable or not arbitrary. Since both class of Lab.Attendants are performing same and similar duties, they can not be validly differentiated in pay scales. The courts would not generally interfere, unless the classification results in pronounced inequality. The justification to classify the person with matric qualification as a class itself that being a minimum qualification and CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.3901 OF 1988 :{ 6 }: having been relaxed can not be accepted as a valid reason or reasonable classification. Since the petitioners are performing identical and similar duties to that of other Lab.Attendants with matric qualification, no justification can be advanced to keep them in different pay scale. The writ petition, as such, deserves to be allowed. It is so ordered. Direction is issued that the respondents shall allow the pay scale of Rs.950-1500 to the petitioners, as is being paid to the other Lab.Attendants with matriculation as a qualification. The petitioners would also be entitled to the arrears of pay and allowance on the basis of new scale being allowed to them. Let this exercise be completed within a period of six months from the date a certified copy of this order is received by the respondents. The arrears be released to the petitioners within the abovesaid period. July 29, 2008 ( RANJIT SINGH ) khurmi JUDGE