Allahabad High Court
Surendra Prasad vs State Of U.P. And 4 Others on 29 June, 2022
Bench: Mahesh Chandra Tripathi
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 4
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 42600 of 2017
Petitioner :- Surendra Prasad
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Vijay Gautam,Mohammad Fahad,Vinod Kumar Mishra
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Mahesh Chandra Tripathi,J.
Heard Shri Vinod Kumar Mishra, learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri Suryabhan Singh, learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondents.
Present writ petition has been preferred for quashing the impugned order dated 20.7.2017 passed by respondent no.3-District Magistrate, Allahabad; for a direction to respondent authorities to pay the wages at the minimum pay scale, which was extended to the "Drivers" of the Civil Supply Department in the State of Uttar Pradesh, on the principles of "equal pay for equal work"; for a direction to respondent authorities to reconsider the claim of the petitioner and to pass appropriate order on the recommendation of the respondent no.2 dated 21.2.2017 with regard to pay the minimum wages and other benefits to the petitioner in the light of the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of State of Punjab v. Jagjit Singh & Ors., (2017) 1 SCC 148 and for a further direction to the respondent authorities to permit the petitioner to continue as a regular employee on the post of Driver in the Department of Civil Supply, Distt. Allahabad and to pay the minimum wages.
It is contended that the petitioner is presently posted as Driver in the Department of Civil Supply at Distt. Allahabad and presently attached with the Addl. District Magistrate, Civil Supply, Allahabad. The petitioner was appointed on 2.8.2005 as a Driver in the office of the District Supply Officer (DSO) Distt. Allahabad on casual and temporary basis and since then he is continuously working on the said post. The petitioner is presently getting a sum of Rs.6000/- as wages per month, whereas the pay band of the drivers in different department in the State is prescribed at Rs.5200-20200/- with Pay Grade of Rs.1900/-, which comes to about Rs.18,000/- per month. It is contended that the petitioner, who is driver, is required to work continuously year after year and not even getting the bare minimum salary as is given to the counterpart of the petitioner in the State Government. The petitioner is also entitled for minimum pay on the principles of "Equal Pay for Equal Work". The petitioner also made representations to the authorities concerned but of no avail. It is also contended that the claim of the petitioner has already been recommended by the Addl. Commissioner, Civil Supply, Allahabad before the District Magistrate, Allahabad vide its letter dated 21.2.2017. However, by the order impugned the claim of the petitioner for regularization has been rejected.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that in the whole order the District Magistrate, Allahabad has not mentioned any word with regard to pay the wages at the minimum pay scale, which was extended to the Drivers of the Civil Supply Department in the State of U.P. on the principle of "Equal Pay for Equal Work".
Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that petitioner had earlier preferred Writ-A No.10812 of 2017 (Surendra Prasad v. State of U.P. & Ors.), which was disposed of on 8.3.2017 with following observations:-
"Heard Sri Vijay Gautam, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Vikram Bahadur Yadav, learned standing counsel for the respondents.
The petitioner is seeking a direction to the respondents to pay minimum pay scale as extended to the Drivers of the Civil Supply Department.
The submission is that the claim of the petitioner has been forwarded by the Additional Commissioner, Food & Civil Supply, U.P., Lucknow vide letter dated 21.2.2017 to the District Magistrate, Allahabad.
No useful purpose would be served in keeping the writ petition pending.
This writ petition is therefore disposed of with a direction to the respondent no.3, District Magistrate, Allahabad to consider and decide the claim of the petitioner in accordance with law within a period of three months from the date a certified copy of this order is received in his office.
It is made clear that the Court has not adjudicated the claim of the petitioner on merits."
It is contended that in response to the aforesaid order the claim of the petitioner for regularisation was considered and rejected by the order impugned while the claim of minimum pay scale has not been considered. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that while filing the aforesaid writ petition, the petitioner has not claimed for regularisation and only prayed for minimum pay scale.
Learned counsel for the petitioner in support of his submissions has placed reliance on the order dated 12.2.2018 in Writ-A No.5480 of 2018 (Prahlad & Ors. v. State of U.P. & Ors.) wherein considering the similar relief the Court while relying on the judgments of Hon'ble Apex Court in State of Punjab & Ors. v. Jagjit Singh & Ors., (2017) 1 SCC 148 as well as other judgments quashed the order impugned therein and had relegated the matter to the authority concerned for reconsidering the claim of the petitioners. Reliance has also been placed on the judgment of this Court dated 27.7.2021 in Writ-A No.8383 of 2021 (Pankaj Kumar Sharma & Anr. v. State of U.P. & Ors.) and the judgment dated 24.9.2019 in Writ-A No.14621 of 2019 (Mukesh @ Munesh Kumar v. State of U.P. & Ors.).
So far as factual and legal aspect of the matter is concerned, the same could not be disputed by learned Standing Counsel.
Considering the facts and circumstances of this case, the Court finds that while filing Writ-A No.10812 of 2017 (Surendra Prasad v. State of U.P. & Ors.) once the petitioner himself has not claimed for regularisation of his services and only asked for minimum pay scale, then there was no occasion to decide his regularisation and only the claim of minimum pay scale should be considered.
In view of above, the order impugned dated 20.7.2017 is quashed. The matter is relegated to the respondent no. 3-District Magistrate, Allahabad to consider and decide the claim of the petitioner for minimum pay scale in accordance with law and in the light of the judgments cited above. The said exercise is to be carried out within three months from the date of production of certified copy of this order.
The writ petition stands disposed of accordingly. It is made clear that the Court has not adverted on merits of the case.
Order Date :- 29.6.2022
Shafique/SP/
