Union Of India vs Arun Jyoti Kundu & Ors on 27 August, 2007
13. This Court time and again cautioned that the court should avoid giving a declaration granting a particular scale of pay and compel the Government to implement the same. Equation of posts and equation of salaries is a matter which is best left to an expert body. Fixation of pay and determination of parity in duties and responsibilities is a complex matter which is for the executive to discharge. Even the recommendations of the Pay Commissions are subject to acceptance or rejection, the Courts cannot compel the State to accept the recommendations of the Pay Commissions though it is an expert body. The State in its wisdom and in furtherance of its valid policy may or may not accept the recommendations of the Pay Commission. [See: Union of India V. Arun Jyoti Kundu (2007) 7 SCC 472 and State of Haryana & Anr. V. Haryana Civil Secretariat Personal Staff Assn. (2002) 6 SCC 72]. It is no doubt, the constitutional courts clothed with power of judicial review have jurisdiction and the aggrieved employees have remedy only if they are unjustly treated by arbitrary State action or inaction while fixing the pay scale for a given post.
6.2. It is also necessary to bear in mind the principle of equal pay and equal work cannot be applied in each and every case and fixation of pay scale is a delicate mechanism which requires various considerations including financial capacity, responsibility, educational qualification, mode of appointment, etc. and the same can have a cascading effect. It is, therefore, essential that a decision in this regard be left to an executive body of people who have all the facts and the overall implications before them.