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9. So far as the merits of the appeals are concerned, Ld. AAG Mr. Mishra for the appellant strenuously urged placing reliance upon the Rules of 2008 that the said rules having come into force w.e.f. 27th August, 2008, and the respondent no. 1 having already retired as PCCF in 2001, the respondent no. 1 could not have been granted the benefit of the apex scale as erroneously granted by the High Court, applying the principle of “equal pay for equal work”. According to him, the said principle had no application to the upgradation of post of PCCF as the Head of Forest force in the apex scale which had to be filled up by “selection” and that too with effect from 27th August, 2008. He also drew the attention of the court to the Rules of 2007 and of 2008 to submit that the respondent no. 1 was working as PCCF and was not working on the upgraded post of Head of the Forest Force which was designated for the first time in the year 2008, and that the High Court had erroneously observed in the impugned orders that the respondent no. 1 was working as the PCCF, Head of the Forest Force.

10. The Ld. ASG Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee for the respondent no. 2 Union of India, supplementing the submissions made by the Ld. AAG Mr. Mishra for the appellant State, submitted that the benefit of upgradation of one existing post cannot be given to the pensioner who had already retired before such upgradation. In this regard, he had relied upon K.S. Krishnaswamy & Ors. Vs. Union of India & Anr. Reported in 2006 (13) SCC 215.

11. Per contra, the Ld. Advocate Mr. Anish Kumar Gupta appearing for the respondent no. 1, taking the court to the various appointment orders issued by the appellant in case of other officers submitted that the officers appointed as PCCF, MP were also appointed as the Head of the Forest Department, M.P. before the Amended Rules came into force and that the respondent was also shown as the PCCF, M.P., in the list of members of IFS, which meant that the respondent was also the PCCF, Head of the Forest Department in the State of Madhya Pradesh. Invoking the principle of “equal pay for equal work”, he submitted that the work and responsibility of a PCCF, M.P. and the upgraded post of PCCF, Head of Forest Force were the same and therefore the High Court had rightly granted the benefit of the apex scale as per the Amended Rules of 2008. He further submitted that the post of PCCF, Head of Forest Force in IFS was not a newly created post but was upgraded from the existing post of PCCF in the department, by virtue of the Amended Rules, and therefore also though the respondent had retired in 2001, he was required to be treated as eligible for the pension as per the apex scale of Rs. 80,000/-.

80000.

From the above quoted rules, it is abundantly clear that one existing post of PCCF was to be upgraded as the Head of Forest Force in each State cadre, fixing the apex scale at Rs. 80,000/- w.e.f. the date of the issue of Notification of the said Amended Rules i.e. 27th September, 2008, and that the said post of PCCF in the apex scale was to be filled up by selection from amongst the officers holding the post of PCCF in the State cadre in the HAG + scale of Rs.75,500/- (annual increment @ 3%) – 80,000/-.

13. Since the respondent no. 1 had retired as the PCCF in the year 2001 that is much prior to the coming into force of the Amended Rules, 2008, his claim to get the benefit of the apex scale as per the said rules was thoroughly misconceived. The apex scale of Rs. 80,000/- was fixed for the upgraded post designated as the Head of Forest Force w.e.f. 27th September, 2008 and was to be filled up by way of selection and not as a matter of course. It is needless to say that filling up a post by selection would always require a process of screening the eligible employees, and cannot be automatic on the basis of seniority. The contention raised by Mr. Gupta for the respondent no. 1 that even prior to the amendment in the rules in the year 2008, the officers working on the post of PCCF were the Head of the Forest Force and the respondent no. 1 was also working as such, cannot be accepted, for the simple reason that if all the officers working on the post of PCCF were also working as the Head of the Forest Force, there was no need to upgrade one existing post of PCCF in the apex scale of Rs. 80,000/- and designate it as the Head of the Forest Force, w.e.f. 27th September, 2008, as specifically provided in Sub-Rule 1 of Rule 3 of the Amended Rules of 2008. Rule 11 of the said Amended Rules of 2008 also specifically reiterates the said position about upgradation and designation of the post of PCCF as the Head of Forest Force in the State of Madhya Pradesh, as in other States and Union Territories.