JUDGEMENT
C.L.SONI -
(1.)THE petitioners have filed this petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India seeking direction against the respondents to fix their salaries as Wireless Operators in
the pay scale of Rs.350-560 under the Old Rules of 1975 and in
the pay scale of Rs.1200-2040 under the new Rules of 1987
and to pay the arrears to all the petitioners with interest and
also to award all other consequential benefits with further
direction to the respondents to take only 8 hours work from
them and to grant weekly off as well as benefits of national
and other public holidays and to pay the petitioners for the
additional work which they have taken from the petitioners on
weekly holidays, national and other public holidays and also for
a period more than eight hours a day.
(2.)THE case of the petitioners is that the respondents wanted to fill up the post of Wireless Operators and for the said
purpose, names from the Employment Exchange as well as
from the Social Welfare Board were called for. From the names
called for, the respondents issued call letters for interview to
the candidates including the petitioners. During the interview,
the candidates who were found suitable were issued
appointment orders. One of such appointment order in respect
of petitioner No.2 dated 28.2.1984 is placed on record wherein
it is specifically stated that the petitioner No.2 has been
appointed as wireless operator with other terms and conditions
stated in the order. Salary of wireless operator is also
mentioned and it is further provided that the candidate would
not be entitled to any other benefits. It is the case of the
petitioners that the petitioner No.2 and all other petitioners
have been performing their duties as wireless operators after
they were appointed for the said post. It is the further case in
the petition that the minimum qualification for the post of
wireless operator is SSC Pass. All the petitioners have passed
SSC Examination and are eligible and qualified for the post of
wireless operator. Many of the petitioners are even graduate
and some of them are double graduate as well as post
graduate. It is further case of the petitioners that though all
the petitioners are appointed to the post of wireless operators
and though they are working as wireless operators, they have
not been paid the salary as wireless operators by the
respondents. It is further averred that the respondent State
Government has issued Rules known as Gujarat Civil Services
(Revision of Pay) Rules, 1975 wherein at page 37, serial no. 42,
under the head of "Forest Department", pay scale of wireless
operators have been mentioned as Rs.350-560 and under the
new Gujarat Civil Service (Revision of Pay) Rules, 1987, pay
scale of wireless operators came to be revised from 350-560 to
Rs.1200-2040. It is the further case of the petitioners that they
are entitled to the pay scale of Rs.350-560 which has been
revised to Rs.1200-2040 from the date of coming into force of
the said Rules of 1987. However, the respondent authorities
have not paid the pay scale to the petitioners and the
petitioners have been paid salary in the pay scale of Rs.210-
270, revised to Rs.800-1150 under the Rules of 1987. Such an action of the respondents of paying the lower pay scale is
arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and violative of the
fundamental rights of the petitioners guaranteed under Article
14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The petitioners have made further grievance that the petitioners are not given other usual benefits which are given
to the other confirmed employees such as Forest Guard. The
petitioners have pointed out that in other departments of the
State of Gujarat, Wireless operators are getting the pay scale
of Rs.350-560 under the old Rules of 1975 which are revised to
Rs.1200-2040 under the Rules of 1987 and the petitioners are
therefore entitled to the pay scales similar to the wireless
operators in the other departments of the State of Gujarat as
the petitioners are performing similar functions and
discharging similar duties.
(3.)THE petition is opposed by respondents by filing reply dated 10th March, 2000 inter-alia stating that for effective and
speedy communication, wireless network was proposed to be
installed in Gir area and for its maintenance, personnel were
required for operating. This Wireless Radio telephone does not
require any special or technical skill as it involves receiving
and relaying messages in common language which is subject
to a limited field. It is further stated that this job can be done
by any ordinary staff and, therefore, looking to the nature of
the job and its simplicity,it was thought that existing cadre of
forest Guards will suffice for this purpose and there was no
need for raising a separate cadre of personnel with different
pay scale for maintaining Wireless Radio Telephones.
Therefore, while notifying the post, no special recruitment
rules, no separate pay scale was mentioned for this post
because recruitment of Wireless operators was to be done in
the cadre of Forest Guards for which recruitment rules and pay
scale were already existing. It is further averred that as per the
Resolution of the Government of Gujarat, Agriculture and
Forest Department dated 31.12.1983, 30 posts of wireless
operators in the pay scale of Rs.210-4.250-270 were
sanctioned and the same were to be filled up before
28.2.1984. It is further stated by the deponent that the minimum qualifications laid down were the same as are in the
case of Forest Guards. The pay scale of Rs.210-4-250-5-270
was specifically mentioned at Sr. No.5 which is the pay scale of
Forest Guard. Educational qualification, physical standard of
chest and height, walking test were the internal part of
eligibility. The nature of job of Wireless Operator does not
require the eligibility of physical standard of walking test. That
the same was included which shows that it was basically for
recruitment in the cadre of Forest Guards designated as
Wireless Operators with future possibility of internal change
from field to wireless and vice versa. It is further stated that
the nature of duty simply involves relaying and receiving the
messages in simple conversational languages. While denying
the averments made in para 6 of the petition, the deponent
has stated that the minimum qualification is passing of
Gujarati Standard VIII. With reference to para 7 of the petition,
the deponent has stated that the petitioners have been
appointed to the post of wireless operators (Guards) in the pay
scale of Rs.210-4-250-5-270 shown at Sr. NO. 67 of GCS (ROP)
Rules, 1975. This pay scale is shown in their appointment
orders, hence, their demand of higher pay scale of Rs.330-560
is not tenable. Moreover, the post of wireless operators in the
forest Department is neither sanctioned by Government in
separate pay scale nor it is shown in the GCS Pay Rules (ROP)
1987. All the petitioners have given their option to accept the revised pay scale of Rs.825-1200 against the old pay scale of
Forest Guard of Rs.210-270 and local Audit Fund Authorities
have also verified their pay fixation and admitted the same. It
is stated that the Pay Verification Party had strongly objected
to the use of designation other than that of forest guard
because in their list, there was no such category. Accordingly,
the cadre of wireless operators was identified as the cadre of
forest guards having the same pay scale. Hence the pay
verification of these forest guards (Wireless) has been done in
the cadre and pay scale of Forest Guards proving that wireless
operators are recognized and identified in the cadre of forest
guards only and the same has been accepted by all the forest
guards (Wireless Operators). It is further stated in the reply
that the cadre of wireless operator is recognized by the State
Government in the separate cadre of technical nature for
which separate Recruitment Rules have been framed like
Recruitment Rules of the Police Department from which it can
be seen that there is vast difference in the educational
qualification and technical qualification for eligibility for this
cadre. Nature of work, communication in code language form
part of specialized professional working whereas in the forest
department, wireless sets working in ordinary task involving
communication of messages in simple language for which no
training of course is imparted. It is stated that the job of forest
wireless operators is quantitatively different from the type of
job performed by the State cadre of Wireless Operators. It is
further stated that there is no separate cadre of wireless
operator, their names are being included in the gradation of
list of forest guards and they will be entitled for promotion as
forester.
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