M.P. SINGH, DY. SUPDT. OF POLICE C.B.I. & ORS. versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

Citation: [1987] 1 S.C.R. 1014 · Decided: 16-01-1987 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: E.S. VENKATARAMIAH · Disposal: Case Allowed
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Judgment (excerpt)

A 
M.P. SINGH, DY. SUPDT. OF POLICE C.B.I. & ORS. 
v. 
UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. 
JANUARY 16, 1987 
B 
[E.S. VENKATARAMIAH AND K.N. SINGH, JJ.] 
Equality clause-Equal pay for equal work-Whether the princi-
). 
pie applies to the payment of Special f>ay as well-Direct Recruits 
(Non-deputationists) in the C.B.l. paid lesser special pay from Sub-
Inspectors to Dy. Suptd. of Police cadre than the deputationists from 
t 
c 
the State cadre-Whether discriminatory and offends Article 14 of the 
Constitution. 
There are two classes of officials amongst those who are holding 
'f 
the posts of Sub-Inspectors, Inspectors and Deputy Superintendents of 
Police in the Central Bureau of Investigation namely (i) who are directly 
D recruited and (ii) those who have been drawn from various State cadres 
on deputation basis. The deputationists are paid Deputation Allowance 
as compensation for the temporary displacement from their parent 
cadres occasioned by their deputation to the Central Bureau of Investi-
gation. Pursuant to the recommendation of the Third Pay Commission 
as accepted by the Central Government both the Direct recruits and 
E 
"deputationists" in the rank of Sub-Inspectors and Inspectors were 
-* 
paid equal rate of Special Pay from 1.7.73, while the Dy. Superinten-
dents were not paid anything. Both the direct recruits and the depu-
tationists posted in one of the Central Units were granted Special Pay 
considering the special nature of duties of investigating officers, by its 
letter No. 203/13/76-AUD-II dated 21.6.1976. But the Special Pay 
F 
granted to the deputationists were more in all the three categories. 
' 
Having failed to get the disparity in the payment of Special Pay set 
l
aright _!!t the departmental level, the aggrieved direct recruits (non '
deputationists) have approached the Supreme Court for justice through 
their petitions under Article 32 ol' the Constitution. 
G 
Allowing the petitions, the Court, 
HELD: It is well settled by several decisions of the Supreme 
Court that in order to pass the test of permissible classification of 
persons belonging to the same class into groups for purposes of dilferen-
tial treatment two conditions must be fulfilled, namely, that the classifi-
H cation must be founded on an intelligible dilferentia which distinguishes 
1014 
·-r· 
M.P. SINGH v. U.0.1. 
1015 
persons who ate grouped together frmn others left out of the group and 
t"at differentia must h11ve a rational relation to the object sought to he 
A 
achieved by the law which brings ai-t discrimination between the two 
groups. [1017G-H; 1018A] 
The Special Pay that was being paid to all the officers in the cadre 
of "uh-Inspectors. InslM'<'tors and Deputy Superintendents of Police in 
the Central Investigating Units of the Central Bureau of investigation 
has nothing to do with any compensation for which the· deputatiouists 
may he entitled either on the ground of their richer experience or on the 
ground of their displacement from their parent departments in the 
various States, but it relates only to the arduous nature of the duties that 
B 
is being performed by all of them irrespective of the fact whether they 
belong to the category of the 'deputationists' or to the category .of 
C 
'non-deputationists'. That being the position, the classification of the 
officers working in the said cadres into two groups, namely, deputa-
tionists and non-deputationists for paying different rates of Special Pay 
does not pass the test of classification permissible under Articles 14 and 
16 of the Constitution of India since it does not hear any rational rela-
tion to the object of classification. [10220-F] 
The Court directed the Central Government to pay the non-
deputationists who have been working in the cadres of Sub-Inspectors, 
Inspectors and Deputy Superintendents of Police in the Central Invest.i-
gating Units of the Central Bureau of Investigation Special Pay at the 
same rates at which the deputationlsts are beinl paid with effect from the 
date from which the decision contained in the letter ofthe Government 
of India, Cabinet Secretariat beaming No. 203/13/76-AVD.II dated 
21.6.1976 came into force upto date and to pay hereafter Special Pay to 
all the officers ( deputationists and non-.depntationists) in the said cadres 
at the same rates.) [1022G-H; 1023A-B] 
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil} 
Nos. 
13097-13176 Of 1984 
(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India). 
M.S. Ganesh for the P
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