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The first appellant is an Association of Subordinate Account Service (SAS) Staff working in the Railways. Other appellants are serving in the Railways as Section Officers or Travelling Inspectors of Accounts. The appellants contend that in various Ministries and Departments of the Central Government, notably Railways, Defence, Posts and Telegraphs, CAG, CGDA etc., there is an Accounts establishment called SAS. They, therefore, contend that SAS Railways have always been equated and granted parity with SAS (CAG) in the matter selection grades, pay scales, status etc. and that any deviation from the traditional parity with the SAS Railways and SAS (CAG) and SAS (CGDA) etc. would be discriminatory and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The main grievance of the appellants, therefore, is that while they have been placed in the pay scale of Rs. 2000-3200, they have not been granted Group `B' status as has been done in respect of their counterparts in CAG and CGDA in the same pay scale.

The respondents have submitted that the matter of classification of posts in the Railways was examined in the context of the recommendations of the Pay Commission but it was decided to leave the existing classification untouched. Accordingly the posts carrying pre-revised scales of Rs. 700-900/- and Rs. 650-960/- were granted replacement scale of Rs. 2000-3200/- and the posts carrying the scale of Rs. 840-1040/- were allotted the replacement scale of Rs. 2375- 3500/- and all these posts continued to be in Group `C' 80% of the posts of Section Officer (Accounts) which were in the pre-revised scale of Rs. 500-900/- were given the upgraded revised scale of Rs. 2000-3200/- and classified as Group `C' on par with other posts which had been granted the replacement scale of Rs. 2000-3200/-. It was, therefore, submitted that within the Railways, there was no discrimination against any section of employees. It is submitted the that Group `B' posts in the Railways of all departments are placed in the scale of Rs. 2000-3200/- but in the Account Department it is in the scale of Rs. 2375- 3500/-. It is then submitted that appointments to Group `B' posts in the Railways are made in accordance with certain prescribed selection procedure. The selection process is different in the Accounts Department and other departments in the Railways. The procedure followed in other departments of Central Government, according to the respondents, is not relevant as each department is free to evolve its own procedure for promotion etc. to suit its requirements. Respondents also submitted that, while contradicting the plea of the appellants, Section Officers in CAG, CGDA, Railways and Departments of Post and Telecommunications did not form an organised All India Service and, therefore, their pay, status, promotional prospects have to be decided keeping in view the peculiar and special needs of the different departments. Respondents denied that there was any violation of fundamental rights of the Accounts employees of the Railways in not according Group `B' status though they were placed in the revised scale of Rs. 2000-3200/- as their counterparts in CAG and CGDA. The Tribunal considered various aspects of the matter and also reports of the earlier Pay Commissions and rejected the claim of the appellants. This is how the Tribunal examined the matter :

"It will be observed from the above that the intent of the Pay Commission's observation regarding parity has been made in the context of pay scales. The said recommendation does not allude to the status and the avenues of promotion etc. In fact, the Pay Commission has stated that promotion from the functional grade shall be "as per normal procedure". Obviously, the applicants have in their mind horizontal relativity with the audit staff when they articulate about traditional parity but this is not supported by the relevant recommendation of the Pay Commission. Railways are a multi- disciplined organisation and for them the internal relativities both the vertical and horizontal within the organisation are of much greater import and relevance than a horizontal comparison within an outside organisation/agency. In fact, no case has been made out before us to establish that there has always been a complete parity between the Audit staff and the Railways Accounts staff. Group `C' officers in the Railway Accounts staff have always been subjected to a more rigorous selection for promotion to Group `B' than has been the case in other departments e.g. C&AG, CGDA etc. Besides, as said earlier, the Railways are multi-disciplined and multi- dimensional organisation. This is not the case either in the case of C&AG or in the case of organisation of CGDA etc. The Railways cannot be expected to blindly follow the path followed by "inclusive"

In the case before us it is the Railway SAS employees who are seeking to be equated in the matter of status, promotional procedure etc. with the Section Officers in the C&AG's office and CGDA's office. The offices of CGDA and C&AG are not multi-disciplined organisations like the Railways. The internal relativity in the Railways would thus carry great weightage with the Railway Administration when they consider equation with outside organisations of a section of the staff from within the organisation. The total parity with outside organisations would disturb the internal relativities which have far-