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 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 Chief Minister of Maharashtra to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, recording the Government's in-principle agreement to grant parity to the High Court staff. The Court admitted the petition and took it up for final hearing by consent. The Court analyzed the facts and the long-standing principle of pay parity. The Court held that the principle of parity must be maintained and directed the State to extend the revised pay scales to the High Court Section Officers from the date of the Government Resolution dated 11 February 2013. The decision was pronounced on 9 August 2016.
Headnote
A) Service Law - Pay Parity - Revised Pay Scales - Government Resolution dated 11 February 2013 - The petitioner, a Section Officer in the High Court, sought a writ to direct the State to apply revised pay scales to High Court Section Officers from the same date as applied to Mantralaya Section Officers, relying on a long-standing principle of pay parity accepted by the Government since 1965. The Court held that the principle of parity must be maintained and directed the State to extend the revised pay scales to the High Court Section Officers from the date of the Government Resolution. (Paras 1-4)
Issue of Consideration
Whether Section Officers working in the High Court administration are entitled to revised pay scales at par with Section Officers working in the Mantralaya (State Government Secretariat) based on the principle of pay parity accepted by the Government.
Final Decision
The Court admitted the petition and directed the State to apply the revised pay scales as per Government Resolution dated 11 February 2013 to the Section Officers of the High Court from the date it was made applicable to Mantralaya Section Officers, upholding the principle of pay parity.
Law Points
- Pay parity
- Equal pay for equal work
- Article 226
- Government Resolution dated 11 February 2013
- Section Officers
- High Court administration
