Case Note & Summary
The petitioner, Shri Mahendra F. Rupwate, a Section Officer (Class II) in the office of the Registrar General of the Bombay High Court, filed a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India in a representative capacity on behalf of all Section Officers working on the Appellate Side, Original Side at Mumbai, and bench offices at Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Goa. The petitioner sought a direction to respondent Nos. 1 to 3 (State of Maharashtra, Principal Secretary Finance Department, and Principal Secretary Law and Judiciary Department) to make applicable the revised pay scales as provided in the Government Resolution dated 11 February 2013 issued by the Finance Department of the Government of Maharashtra to the Section Officers on the High Court Administration, from the date it was made applicable to Section Officers working at Mantralaya (Government of Maharashtra). The petitioner's case was that the Government of Maharashtra had accepted for more than three decades that there would be parity of pay scales between the staff of the High Court and the staff of the Mantralaya at Mumbai. The petitioner referred to a letter dated 11 August 1965 from the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra to the Hon'ble Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, wherein the Government agreed in principle to grant parity to the High Court staff. The court admitted the petition and took it up for final hearing by consent. The judgment, delivered by G.S. Kulkarni, J., on 9 August 2016, directed the respondents to consider the petitioner's representation and apply the revised pay scales to the Section Officers in the High Court administration in line with the principle of parity.
Headnote
A) Service Law - Pay Parity - Section Officers - Government Resolution dated 11 February 2013 - The petitioner, a Section Officer in the High Court, sought a writ under Article 226 to direct the State Government to apply the revised pay scales to Section Officers in the High Court administration, as granted to those in Mantralaya, based on a long-standing principle of parity accepted by the Government since 1965. The Court examined the letter dated 11 August 1965 from the Chief Minister to the Chief Justice agreeing in principle to parity. Held that the principle of parity must be upheld and the Government is directed to consider the application of the revised pay scales to the High Court Section Officers from the same date as for Mantralaya staff (Paras 1-4).
Issue of Consideration
Whether Section Officers working in the High Court administration are entitled to the same revised pay scales as those working in the Mantralaya (State Government) based on the principle of parity of pay scales.
Final Decision
The court admitted the petition and directed the respondents to consider the petitioner's representation and apply the revised pay scales to the Section Officers in the High Court administration in line with the principle of parity.
Law Points
- Pay parity
- Equal pay for equal work
- Article 226
- Government Resolution dated 11 February 2013
