PUNJAB STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD AND ANOTHER versus THANA SINGH AND OTHERS

Citation: [2019] 1 S.C.R. 330 · Decided: 08-01-2019 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: R. BANUMATHI, INDIRA BANERJEE · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

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Judgment (excerpt)

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2019] 1 S.C.R.
PUNJAB STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD AND ANOTHER
v.
THANA SINGH AND OTHERS
(Civil Appeal No. 193 of 2019)
JANUARY 08, 2019
[R. BANUMATHI AND INDIRA BANERJEE, JJ.]
Service Law – Parity of Pay Scale – When cannot be granted
– Respondents, included in Group XII of the appellant-Board, were
working as Sub Fire Officers in the appellant-Board – Respondents
claimed parity of pay scale with other three classes within Group
XII viz., Head Clerks, Head Clerk-cum-Divisional Accountants and
Internal Auditors – Single Judge allowed the writ petition – Division
Bench dismissed the appeal filed by the appellant – On appeal,
held: Work performed by the Sub Fire Officer is entirely different
from the nature of duties performed by the other three posts within
the same group – Appellant is an autonomous body – It was for the
appellant to classify its employees/posts on the basis of
qualifications, duties and responsibilities of the posts concerned –
If the classification has reasonable nexus with the objective sought
to be achieved, the appellant would be justified in prescribing
different pay scales – Further, burden of establishing parity in pay
scale and employment is on the person claiming such right –
However, the respondents did not produce any material to show
that there is any similarity/identity between them and the Head Clerks,
Head Clerk-cum-Divisional Accountants and Internal Auditors in
terms of the nature of duties, responsibilities, qualifications and
mode of recruitment to claim parity of pay scale – Determination of
parity or disparity in duties and responsibilities is a complex issue
and the same should be left to the expert body – When the expert
body considered revision of pay for various posts, it did not revise
the pay scale of Sub Fire Officers – Only in cases of complete
similarity in the nature of work, duties, responsibilities and
promotional channels, parity of pay scale can be claimed – In the
present case, nature of work, duties, responsibilities and initial
qualification for recruitment of each post are entirely different as
all these posts belong to different cadre – Mere difference in pay
[2019] 1 S.C.R. 330
330
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scale does not always amount to discrimination, it depends upon
the mode of selection/recruitment, nature, quality of work and duties
and the status of both the posts – Judgment of the Single Judge and
the impugned judgment of the Division Bench set aside.
Allowing the appeal, the Court
HELD: 1.1 The duties and nature of work of Head Clerks
and Internal Auditors are entirely different. Head Clerks work
under XEN, Drawing and Disbursement Officer and there is only
one Head Clerk in the Division Office. Head Clerk is the Head
of the establishment in the Divisional Office and total work of the
establishment is under the control of the Head Clerk. Head Clerk
also maintains the leave and other miscellaneous works for the
Sub-divisions and the Division Offices and also discharges
administrative functions and thus, has more responsibilities. Duty
of an Internal Auditor is to audit the billing of the Revenue
Department of the Sub-division Office which includes billing of
domestic supply to large supply. Whereas the duty of the Sub
Fire Officer is entirely different viz., rush to the spot of emergency
along with firefighting equipment crew, direct and supervise
firefighting and rescue operations, arrange for extra fire fighting
equipments, if need be discharge mechanical foam, dry chemical
powder, etc. and inform the fire pump house for continuous
running of pumps and also inform Fire Officer/Sr.Xen/Fire and
Safety regarding incident. Thus, the work performed by the Sub
Fire Officer is entirely different from the nature of duties
performed by the Head Clerks and the Internal Auditors.  [Para
18][339-H; 340-A-D]
1.2 The appellant-Board being an autonomous body
governed by its own regulations, it was for the Board to classify
its employees/posts on the basis of qualifications, duties and
responsibilities of the posts concerned. If the classification has
reasonable nexus with the objective sought to be achieved, the
Board would be justified in prescribing different pay scales. Article
14 of the Constitution of India would be applicable only when a
discrimination is made out between the persons who are similarly
situated and not otherwise. It is the duty of an employee seeking
parity of pay to prove and establish that they have been
disc

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