Misc. Civil Application (for Restoration) No. 1257 of 2014 in Letters Patent Appeal No. 616 of 2013 in Special Civil Application No. 7800 of 1993. Case: Gujarat State Textile Corp. Ltd. Vs State of Gujarat. High Court of Gujarat (India)

Case NumberMisc. Civil Application (for Restoration) No. 1257 of 2014 in Letters Patent Appeal No. 616 of 2013 in Special Civil Application No. 7800 of 1993
CounselFor Appellant: Subramaniam Iyer, Advocate and For Respondents: J.S. Yadav and M.G. Nagarkar, Advocates
JudgesBhaskar Bhattacharya, C.J. and J. B. Pardiwala, J.
IssueCode of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) - Order XLVII Rules 1, 47; Sections 114, 141; Constitution of India - Article 226
Judgement DateSeptember 19, 2014
CourtHigh Court of Gujarat (India)

Judgment:

J. B. Pardiwala, J.

  1. This application is at the instance of the original petitioners of Special Civil Application No. 7800/1993 for review of our order dated 17/1/2014 passed in the Letters Patent Appeal no. 616/2013 by which we allowed the Letters Patent Appeal filed by the State of Gujarat and other two appellants quashing and setting aside the order passed by the learned single Judge in Special Civil Application No. 7800/1993.

  2. Controversy in the main writ-application:

    2.1. The applicants herein filed a writ application with regard to extending the benefits of the 3rd and 4th Central Pay Commissions Scale of Pay, Dearness Allowance etc. to the employees of Technical & Officers Cadre working in the Textile Mills run by the appellant Corporation.

    2.2. The case of the Union before the learned Single Judge was that the Government of Gujarat enacted the Gujarat Closed Textile Undertaking (Nationalization) Act, 1986 and the Company namely, the Gujarat State Textile Corporation Limited (for short, "the GSTC") was incorporated with a view to re-organize and reconstruct the eleven textile mills which were transferred and vested in the GSTC. The head office of the GSTC was set up at Ahmedabad. The Government of Gujarat accepted the recommendations of the 3rd and 4th Pay Commissions and extended its benefits to all the employees employed in Government Corporation and accordingly, the revised pay scales were given to all the employees of such Government Corporations working in different units in different parts of the State. The recommendations of the 3rd and 4th Pay Commissions accepted and adopted by the Government for the employees of Government Corporations were also adopted by GSTC. However, the benefits of the 3rd and the 4th Pay Commissions were given to only those employees who were working in the Head Office of the Corporation. The benefits of the 3rd and 4th Pay Commissions were not extended to the employees such as technicians and other officers working in the mill units of the Corporation who are the members of the Gujarat State Textile Corporation Officers & Technicians Union.

    2.3. Being aggrieved by such discriminatory treatment meted out to the employees working in the mill units, the Union approached this Court by way of a Special Civil Application No. 7800 of 1993 and prayed for the following reliefs:

    (A) To issue writ or writs in the nature of Mandamus and/or Prohibition and/or any other appropriate writ or writs or directions or orders.

    (B) To direct the respondents by writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or writs or directions to apply the service rules with effect from the date of making thereof to all the technicians and officers cadres mentioned above in the employment of the 1st respondent Corporation and working in the eleven textile mills of the respondents without any distinction whatsoever.

    (C) To direct the respondents to treat all the employees equally and to give benefits of scales of pay and dearness allowances etc as per 3rd and 4th Central Pay Commission recommendations to the technicians and officers cadres mentioned above working in the eleven textile mills run by the respondents as given to the employees working in the Head Office of the 1st respondent Corporation and as given by the National Textile Corporation (Gujarat) Limited to its technicians and officers working in textile units.

    (D) To grant to the 2nd petitioner and the technicians and officers cadres working in the eleven textile mills who are members of our Union such other relief as justice may require.

    (E) To allow this petition with cost

    (F) To direct the respondent including the newly added respondent, the Official Liquidator to pay to all the officers/employees who were working in the specified Mills under the Gujarat State Textile Corporation the arrears of the difference of salary which such employees would be entitled to under the 3rd and 4th pay commissions and be further pleased to direct the said respondents to pay to such employees the difference of compensation which is paid under VRS scheme after calculating the same as per the pay scales which the concerned employee may be entitled to under the 5th pay commission.

  3. The issue which fell for the consideration of the learned Single Judge was whether the members of the Union were entitled to receive the pay scales and other consequential benefits of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Pay Commissions as was paid to the other employees of the Corporation working at the Head Office.

  4. The learned Single Judge took the following view:

    i) The principle of equal pay for equal work has no mechanical application in every case and it requires consideration of the various dimensions of a given job.

    ii) Normally the applicability of the principle of equal pay for equal work should be best left to be evaluated and determined by an expert body and the courts should not undertake such an exercise.

    iii) The burden to prove and establish parity for the purpose of invoking the doctrine of equal pay for equal work is on the workmen asserting such parity. Such onus has to be discharged by producing cogent and reliable evidence in that regard.

    iv) When the nature of duties and responsibility is not equal, the question of equal pay would not arise, but at the same time the Court cannot ignore the fact that the employees working in the Mills have received a step-motherly treatment at the hands of the Corporation and they would be entitled to have a pay revision at par with the employees working in the Head Office.

    v) The Non-award staff who were members of the Union were forced to submit their resignation and such resignations were tendered without prejudice to their rights and contentions to raise objection as regards the voluntary nature of the resignation.

    vi) The learned Single Judge directed to provide the revision of pay scales to the members of the Union not by invoking the doctrine or applying the doctrine of equal pay for equal work, but in view of the alleged step-motherly treatment and thereby thought fit to direct the Corporation to treat the Members of the Union at par with the employees working at the Head Office of the respondent-Corporation.

  5. Feeling dissatisfied with the judgment and order passed by the learned Single Judge, the Corporation came-up with the Letters Patent Appeal No. 616/2013. By our judgment and order dated 17/2/2014 we took the following view:-

    "21. In the present case we have noticed that the learned Single Judge has proceeded to grant the relief on the basis that the benefits deserve to be extended to the members of the union since there is a surplus of the funds and further an assurance was given by the learned counsel appearing for the original petitioners that only after all other liabilities of the Corporation were discharged that the payment be made to the Union.

  6. We are unable to appreciate the line of reasoning adopted by the learned Single Judge. Even if there is surplus of funds or there are sufficient funds with the Corporation, by itself, would not justify the grant of benefits to the members...

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