State Of Kerala vs B. Renjit Kumar & Ors

2. Facts, in brief leading to the filing of the present appeal are as follows:-

16,300-400-18,300/- with effect from March 1, 1997. However, the District Judges had been placed in the scale of Rs. 16,750-400-19,150-420-20,500/-. They also had been granted a selection grade of Rs. 18,750-400-19,150-450- 20,500-500-23,850/-. The respondents complained that the action in treating them differently from the District Judges suffers from the vice of discrimination and arbitrariness. Thus, they sought the intervention of the High Court to quash order - Exhibit P8 of the State Government and further direction to grant same scale of pay as has been sanctioned in the case of District Judges.

9. Thus, in the State of Kerala, in terms of the above substituted clause (a) in sub-Section (3) of Section 7A of the ID Act, 1947, a judicial officer not below the rank of District Judge is qualified to be appointed as Presiding Officer of the Industrial Tribunal. Indisputably, prior to 1.7.1988 the pay scale of the Presiding Officers of the Industrial Tribunals and District Judges was Rs.2600-3800/-. The District Judges were granted selection grade in the scale of Rs. 3700-4200/-. All the three Industrial Tribunals Services at that time were 1 also placed in the selection grade of Rs. 3700-4200/-. Government of Kerala appointed Pay Commission chaired by Justice T.Chandrashekhara Menon to make recommendations in the matter of revision of pay scales in the case of Government employees. The Commission recommended revised scale of Rs. 3175 - 4605/- to the Industrial Tribunals (Entry Cadre) and Rs. 4435-5285/- to the three Industrial Tribunals who were granted selection grade. The Commission recommended the same scale of pay to the District Judges, Sessions Judges and selection grade District Judges. The Government of Kerala accepted the above recommendations and revised the pay scales of Industrial Tribunals and District and Sessions Judges as recommended by the Pay Commission with effect from 1.7.1988. In the year, 1993, Government issued G.O. (P) No. 600/93/Fin. dated 08.12.1993 revising the pay scales of State Government employees w.e.f. 01.03.1992. By the said order, the scale of pay of Industrial Tribunals were revised to Rs. 5100-5700/-. In the above pay revision order in respect of District Judges and members of Subordinate Judiciary, it was noted that revised scale will be separately 1 ordered. It was the admitted case of the State Government that later on the Government issued separate order revising the pay scales of District Judges to Rs. 5100-5700/- which is the same scale of pay granted to the Industrial Tribunals. Indisputably, the Government of India based on the recommendations of this Court by resolution dated 21.3.1994 constituted the First National Judicial Pay Commission to go into the question of the pay scales and to recommend uniform scale of pay for the Subordinate Judiciary in the States and Union Territories. Accordingly, National Judicial Pay Commission (Shetty Commission) recommended pay revision to the District Judges and other members of the Subordinate Judiciary in the year 1998. It is not in dispute that the officers who presided over the Labour Courts and those appointed as Presiding Officers of the Industrial Tribunals do decide disputes under the ID Act, 1947. There is no qualitative difference in the nature of functions or duties attached to the categories of posts. This parity having been recognised and accepted by the State Government for more than 30 years, the High Court, in our view, has rightly 1 observed that the mere fact that the Constitution refers to the appointment of District Judges alone cannot, by itself, be a good ground for treating the Presiding Officers of the Industrial Tribunal and the District Judges differently. The High Court held that even the Presiding Officers of the Industrial Tribunals are not outside the ambit of the Constitution as the protection of rules framed under Article 309 as also under Article 311 is available to them. The State Government had granted pay scale at par with that of the District Judges before the recommendations of the pay scales of the District Judges by the Shetty Commission by which District Judges were placed in higher scales which benefit has been denied to the Presiding Officers of Industrial Tribunals merely on the ground that the Presiding Officers of the Industrial Tribunal are not appointed under Article 233 of the Constitution of India nor they are appointed to the Judicial Services of a State under Article 234 of the Constitution. The action of the State Government in treating the officers presiding over the Industrial Tribunal differently from the District Judges in the matter of pay scales on its face is in 1 violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The essential educational and professional qualifications for appointment of the Presiding Officer of the Industrial Tribunals are identical to that of the appointment of District Judge. The High Court in its order dated 25.11.1999 passed in O.P. No. 20490/1999-C filed by the respondents noticed that in the counter affidavit filed by the State Government in the said writ petition, it was stated: "that the duties, functions and scales of pay of the Presiding Officers of the Industrial Tribunals are equal to that of the District Judges. The request for granting 35% of the interim relief was taken up with the Pay Revision Committee and on the basis of the remarks of the Pay Revision Committee the respondents have informed the Industrial Tribunals that they would continue to get two instalments to interim relief and they need not be allowed 35% of the interim relief." On this premise, the High Court in paragraph 6 of its order observed as under:-

14. Having regard to the well-reasoned judgment of the Division Bench, we are of the view that the impugned judgment warrants no interference inasmuch as no illegality, infirmity or error of jurisdiction could be shown before us by the appellant-State.

15. In the result, for the reasons stated above, we find no merit in this appeal. The appeal is dismissed accordingly. The parties, however, are left to bear their own costs. 2

16. In view of the above, no orders on the I.A. Nos. 2 & 3 of 2004.