Central Administrative Tribunal - Chandigarh
Hawa Singh Son Of Sh. Dalip Singh vs Union Of India Through Its Secretary on 7 July, 2010
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
CHANDIGARH BENCH
O.A. No.791/HR/2008
Date of order:_July 7, 2020
Coram: Honble Mrs. Shyama Dogra, Member (J)
Honble Mr. Khushiram, Member (A)
Hawa Singh son of Sh. Dalip Singh, presently working with the Western Command Composite Signal Regiment. Ambala Section as Supervisor (Civilian)
.Applicant
Versus
1. Union of India through its Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Sough Block, Central Secretariat, New Delhi.
2. The Chief of the Army Staff, Army Headquarter, Sena Bhawan, New Delhi.
3. The Director General of Signals Sigs 5 ), General Staff Branch, Army Headquarter, Sena Bhawan, New Delhi.
4. The Commanding Officer, Western Command, COMP SIG REGT, Chabndimandir.
..Respondents
For the applicant(s) - Mr. Inder Pal Goyal, Advocate
For the respondents Mr. Sanjiv Sharma, Advocate.
O R D E R
Honble Mr. Khushiram, Member (A):
Applicant was initially appointed as Civilian Switch Board Operator (CBSO) in the pay scale of Rs. 260-400 in 1979 and after being promoted as CBSO Grade-1, he was further promoted to the post of Supervisor on 15.6.94. He claims that the working conditions of the civilian staff working in the Telephone Exchanges under the Ministry of Defence are the same as that of the employees of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) . The Ministry of Defence on 22.8.1972 took a decision to grant higher scale of pay to the Switch Board Operator working in offices/establishment/installation in which conditions of service and work were similar to those of the Telegraph Department. The Channel of promotion and pay scales of different promotional posts for the Switch Board Operators working under the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Telecommunication were revised from time to time as under:
Ministry of Defence Posts Pay scale (1979) Pay scale (1986) Pay scale (1996 1 CBSO (Grade-II) 260-400 950-1500 3050-4500 2 CBSO Gd-1 after 16 years of service 330-560 1200-2040 4000-6000
3.
Supervi-sor after 26 years of service 425-750 1400-2300 5000-8000
4. No further scale Department of Telecommunication Sr.No. Posts Pay scale (1979) Pay scale (1986) Pay scale (1996)
1. Exchange Operator (Grade II) 260-400 950-1500 3050-4500
2. Exchange Operator (Grade II) after 16 years of service.
330-560 1200-2040 4000-6000
3. Exchange Supervisor/ After 24 years of service 425-750 1400-2300 5000-8000
4. 10 % of Supervisors/26 years of service in pay scale of Rs./ 5500-9000 2000-3200 since 1990) 6500-10500
2. The applicant has claimed that OA No. 133 of 1987 claiming the pay scale of Rs. 260-480 on grounds of equal pay for equal work, was allowed and the respondents were directed to refix the pay of the applicant, namely, Sh. Ravindra Kumar Prashar in the pay scale of Rs. 260-480 w.e.f. April 1,1977. Another OA No. 450/HR/2002 was also allowed, stating that Since the matter of giving the applicants the scale equal to the Telephone Operators in the Telecom Deptt. Has been considered at the level of the Supreme Court and the applicants were granted the benefit and it has attained finality. There is absolutely no reason why the same scale was not extended after 1-1-1996 to the CBSO working in the Defence Department.Similarly, the time-bound promotion after 16 years and further after 26 years for grant of Rs. 5000-8000 and 5500-9000 w.e.f. 1.12.98 respectivelyall CSBOs who were placed in the pay scale of Rs. 260-400 prior to 1-1-1986 have to be given the benefit of 3 revised scales mentioned above w.e.f. 1.1.1996 and this equation cannot be disturbed. The OA, therefore, succeeds.
3. The decision of the Tribunal in the above OA was challenged before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in CWP No.8759-CAT of 2003, which was dismissed. Thereafter, the applicant alongwith others, filed another OA No.117/HR/2004 before this Tribunal praying for grant of pay scales granted to the similarly situated persons in case of Balraj Singh and others and seeking to be placed in the scale of Rs. 6500-10500 as given to the employees of DoT. The said OA was allowed with the order that applicants shall be given the benefit of judgment rendered in case of Balraj Singh & others. However with regard to the scale of Rs. 6500-10500, the applicants were granted liberty to make a representation to the respondents for further improvement in their careers. The representation made by the applicant(s) has been rejected vide order at Annexure A-8, stating that there is no functional justification for grant of higher pay scales in the Army. Aggrieved by this decision, the applicant has filed the present OA to seek mainly the following relief:
i) That the impugned order Annexure P-8 passed by the respondent to the extent pay scale of 6500-10500/- has been denied to the applicant, may kindly be quashed.
ii) That in view of parity admitted by the party between the Exchange staff of the Ministry of Defence and the Department and judgments of the Learned CAT. Honble High Court and the Honble Supreme Court of India, the respondents may kindly be directed to grant the pay scale of Rs. 6500-10500/- from the date he has come within senior most 10% employees in the pay scale of Rs. 5500-9000, with arrears of pay after re-fixation from such date.
4. Respondents have filed written statement, stating that Telephone Operators of Telecom Department are now working under Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., which is an autonomous body and have separate working conditions uncompareable with the Defence Department. The pay scales have already been granted to the Civilian Switch Board Operators w.e.f. 1.1.96 at par with Deptt. Of Telecommunication (DoT) as per judgment of CAT Chandigarh Bench in OA 450/HR/2002 and OA 117/HR/2004. As regards the 10% Supervisor/26 years of service in the pay scale of Rs. 6500-10500 is concerned, the respondents have stated that the Tele Operators of the Telecommunication Department are now working under BSNL which is an autonomous body and have separate working conditions and pay structure and the pay scales of Defence Department cannot be compared with BSNL. Respondents have admitted that the pay scale of Rs. 260-400 was given to Shri R.K.Prashar, CSBO Gr.II w.e.f. the date of his appointment in view of judgment his OA No.133 of 1987. The revised pay scale as sanctioned to CBSOs w.e.f. 1.1.96 vide Ministry of Defence Letter dated 27.2.2004 are as under:
a) CSBO Gde II Rs. 3200-4900
b) CSBO Gde I Rs.5000-8000
c) Tele/SS Supvr Rs/5500-9000
d) After completion of 16 years of service Rs. 5000-8000
e) After completion of 26 years of service Rs. 5500-9000 It is also stated that the post of CSBO is categorized as a Group C post as per 5th Pay commission and the scale of Rs. 6500-10500 comes under Group B post which means creation of higher posts above Telephone/Switch Board Supervisor level which cannot be done without functional justification. In Army, no such functional requirement exits as all the CSBOs work under the over all control of Army officers unlike in Civil where they work under the over all control of civilian officers. The applicant submitted a notice to National Pay Commission, Defence Secretary and Dte Gen of Signals, which was disposed of saying that the post as exiting in Telecom Deptt. in the pay scale of Rs. 6500-10500 cannot be created in Defence Department till there is organizational requirement/functional justification for the same. Therefore, the respondents have prayed for dismissal of the OA.
5. The applicant has filed a rejoinder, stating that although CSBOs have been granted pay scales at par with the Deptt. Of Telecom, but the scale of Rs. 6500-10500/- which was granted to 10% senior-most employees in the pay scale of Rs. 5500-9000 in the Deptt. Of Telecom has not been granted to the applicant and other similarly situated employees working in the Military Exchange under the Ministry of Defence. He has further contended that since old scales of Rs. 5000-8000, Rs.5500-9000 and Rs. 6500-10500/- have been fixed in the scale of pay of Rs. 9300-34,800 in Pay Band-2 with grade pay of Rs. 5400/-, Rs. 4600/- and Rs. 4200/- and the applicant having already been fixed in the same scale, the issue of Group; B and C raised by the respondents has become irrelevant. Further, since the old scale of Rs. 5500-9000 and Rs. 6500-10500/- are already in the same group, the applicant is entitled to new scale of pay of Rs. 9300-34800 in pay band-2 with grade pay of Rs. 5400/- in view of parity with the DoT granted by the Honble Courts.
6. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have perused the material placed before us.
7. Learned counsel for the applicant tried to argue the case on the same lines as projected in the OA as well as his rejoinder, claiming parity granted earlier. He also cited the following authorities:
1. 2006 (2) RSJ 330 O.P.Kesanwani vs, UOI
2. Anil Kumar Aggarwal vs. State of Haryana 2009 (2) SCT 452.
3. Pritam Dass vs. State of Haryana 2000 (4) SCT 987
4. Brojesh Ghosh vs. Calcutta Metropolitan 2005(5) SLR 229.
8. Learned counsel for the respondents, however, stated that the functions of the CSBOs in the DoT have now been entrusted to BSNL (an autonomous body), whose service conditions and scales cannot be compared with the scales granted to the Govt. employees . Therefore applicants have no case.
9. We have given deep consideration to the matter. The citations submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant pertain to parity and grant of scales to similarly placed employees, but in the present case, the petitioner is demanding the scale of Rs. 6500-10500, which had been granted by the DoPT to 10% senior-most employees in the cadre. But in the instant case, the requirement of the Ministry of Defence with regard to the services of the applicant cannot be equated with the requirement of the similarly placed employees working in the BSNL (earlier DoT), and unless functional requirements and justification for creation of higher posts is made out, the Tribunal cannot function as a Pay Commission for the purpose and ask the respondents to grant the higher scale to 10% senior-most employees in the cadre of the applicant. This issue, in fact, stand already adjudicated in OA 117/HR/2004 (supra) by observing as under (in para 6 of the decision):
6. As far as claim of applicants for grant of scale of Rs. 6500-10500 as by way of promotion or by way of next available scale of Rs. 5500-9000 on completion of 26 years is concerned, we are of the opinion that this is a matter best left to Expert Bodies like Pay Commission. The courts are hardly equipped to go into the details of duties of persons working under DoT and the duties of the applicants for performance of detailed evaluation to arrive on finding as to same can be said to be identical or similar. We cannot forget that working in DoT has undergone a sea change with improvement in technology.
10. Respondents have taken a plea that for grant of scale of Rs. 6500-10,500/-, they will be compelled to create new posts as neither, the scale is available for the categories of CSBOs, nor any post exists in their cadre. In these circumstances, the prayer made for a direction to respondents for grant of this scale cannot be allowed by this Tribunal and is left to the decision of respondents, particularly, respondent No.1.
11. As already pointed out above, the Legal notice sent by the applicants has been rejected vide order dated 8th July, 2008 (Annexure A-8) on the ground that there is no organizational/functional justification for creation of higher posts.
Since case of the applicant has already been rejected by the Ministry of Defence and Pay Commission has also not given parity to the applicant with his counterparts in the DoT (Now BSNL), this Tribunal cannot go into this question and grant the relief as prayed for. Since the Ministry of Defence has already rejected the claim and applicant has not been able to make out a case to give him parity for the grant of scale of Rs. 6500-10500, we find no infirmity in the order Annexure A-8. In the circumstances, we feel that the OA is devoid of merit and is, therefore, dismissed and disposed of accordingly. No costs.
(KHUSHIRAM) (SHYAMA DOGRA)
MEMBER (A) MEMBER (J)
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