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It is not in dispute that the Chief Justice of the High Court of Allahabad in exercise of his power conferred upon him by Article 229 of the Constitution of India made rules known as Allahabad High Court Officers and Staff (Conditions of Service & Conduct) Rules, 1976. The Section Officers, Bench Secretaries Grade I and Private Secretaries are holders of Class II posts referable to Rule 16 of the said Rules. The posts of Deputy Registrar is a Class I post and allegedly Class II officers are entitled to be considered for promotion to Class I post.
In view of the resolution adopted in the Chief Justices' Conference in the year 1962, the staff and officers of the Allahabad High Court were being paid the same salaries which were being paid to their counterparts working in the U.P. Secretariat. However, as a higher pay scale was directed to be paid by the High Court on its judicial side in writ petition No. 643 of 1983 (J.P. Upadhyay and Others Vs. State of U.P. and Others), the Private Secretaries attached to the Judges of the High Court had been granted the same scale of pay which was being paid to their counterparts of the U.P. Secretariat. Any claim for a higher scale of pay, according to the Appellants, thus, would be contrary to the government order dated 20th March, 1968 which was made in terms of the recommendations of the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in exercise of his power under Article 229 of the Constitution. The Chief Justice of the High Court having not made any recommendation that there is no further need of continuance of the government order dated 20th March, 1968 nor any recommendation had been made for withdrawal thereof, no relief can be granted to the writ petitioners.

In State of Maharashtra Vs. Association of Court Stenos, P.A., P.S. and Another [(2002) 2 SCC 141], Pattanaik, J. (as the learned Chief Justice then was) noticed this Court's earlier decision in Supreme Court Employees' Welfare Asson. V. Union of India [(1989) 4 SCC 187] and stated the law in the following terms:

"On a plain reading of Article 229(2), it is apparent that the Chief Justice is the sole authority for fixing the salaries etc. of the employees of the High Court, subject to the Rules made under the said article. Needless to mention rules made by the Chief Justice will be subject to the provisions of any law made by the legislature of the State. In view of proviso to sub-article (2) of Article 229, any rule relating to the salaries, allowances, leave or pension of the employees of the High Court would require the approval of the governor, before the same can be enforced. The approval of the governor, therefore, is a condition precedent to the validity of the rules made by the Chief Justice and the so-called approval of the Governor is not on his discretion, but being advised by the Government. It would, therefore, be logical to hold that apart from any power conferred by the rules framed under Article 229, the Government cannot fix the salary or authorise any particular pay scale of an employee of the High Court. It is not the case of the employees that the Chief Justice made any rules, providing a particular pay scale for the employees of the Court, in accordance with the constitutional provisions and that has not been accepted by the governor. In the aforesaid premises, it requires consideration as to whether the High Court in its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, can itself examine the nature of work discharged by its employees and issue a mandamus, directing a particular pay scale to be given to such employees. In the judgment under challenge, the Court appears to have applied the principle of "equal pay for equal work" and on an evaluation of the nature of duties discharged by the Court Stenographers, Personal Assistants and Personal Secretaries, has issued the impugned directions. In Supreme Court Employees' Welfare Asson. V. Union of India this Court has considered the powers of the Chief Justice of India in relation to the employees of the Supreme Court in the matter of laying down the service conditions of the employees of the Court, including the grant of pay scale and observed that the Chief Justice of India should frame rules after taking into consideration all relevant factors including the recommendations of the Pay Commission and submit the same to the President of India for his approval. What has been stated in the aforesaid judgment in relation to the Chief Justice of India vis-`-vis the employees of the Supreme Court, should equally apply to the Chief Justice of the High Court vis-`-vis the employees of the High Court. Needless to mention, notwithstanding the constitutional provision that the rules framed by the Chief Justice of a High Court, so far as they relate to salaries and other emoluments are concerned, require the prior approval of the Governor. It is always expected that when the Chief Justice of a High Court makes a rule, providing a particular pay scale for its employees, the same should be ordinarily approved by the Governor, unless there is any justifiable reason, not to approve the same. The aforesaid assumption is on the basis that a high functionary like the Chief Justice, before framing any rules in relation to the service conditions of the employees of the Court and granting any pay scale for them is expected to consider all relevant factors and fixation is made, not on any arbitrary basis."
(v) The Courts cannot be called upon to undertake the Government duties and functions.

The Court shall not ordinarily interfere with a policy decision of the State. Social and economic belief of a Judge should not be invoked as a substitute for the judgment of the legislative bodies. (See Ira Munn Vs. State of Ellinois, 1876 (94) US (Supreme Reports) 113)"

The High Court in its impugned judgment, however, did not adequately address itself to the said issue.
In this case, the Chief Justice merely forwarded the representation of the Respondents dated 15th March, 1994 for grant of a higher scale of pay with effect from 1.1.1986 directing the Registry to forward the same to the State Government with recommendations to consider the same on the ground of parity. Such forwarding of recommendations to the State Government did not involve any application of mind on the part of the Chief Justice as was required under Article 229 of the Constitution of India. The Chief Justice on his own did not arrive at any decision that the jobs performed by the concerned officers were comparable to their counterparts in the Central Secretariat or Delhi High Court. No rule was framed fixing the terms and conditions of service or the scale of pay for different categories of the employees of the High Court. Only because in the forwarding letter, the State Government was asked to consider the demand of the concerned officers favourably, the same by itself would not mean that the requirements of Article 229 of the Constitution stood complied with. Unless the Chief Justice of the High Court exercises his constitutional power or acts on the basis of the recommendations of a committee constituted by him for the purpose of fixation of scale of pay and laying down other conditions of service; only forwarding of a representation to the State Government to consider the same favourably without anything more would not amount to exercise of the constitutional jurisdiction under Article 229 of the Constitution.