WPSS/1665/2022
2022 Latest Caselaw 2739 UK

                Office Notes,
             reports, orders or
SL.           proceedings or
      Date                                     COURT'S OR JUDGES'S ORDERS
No             directions and
             Registrar's order
              with Signatures
                                  WPSS No.1665 of 2022
                                  Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.

Mr. Prashant Khanna, Advocate for the petitioners.

Mr. H.M. Bhatia, Advocate for the respondents.

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

On the oral prayer of learned counsel for the petitioner, he is permitted to implead 'Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, ReFAC (AU)-1, Haldwani, as respondent no. 3.

Petitioners to produce amended memo of parties in the Registry, within 24 hours.

Petitioners are engaged through contractor to serve as Multi Tasking Staff between 19.08.2013 to 17.11.2016. According to the petitioners, they are being paid only ` 7,681/- as remuneration; while, there are other daily wage employees serving in the Income Tax Department, who are being paid ` 21,000/- as wages. This, according to the petitioners, is unjust and arbitrary. They have claimed protection of equal pay for equal work.

Reliance has been placed upon a judgment rendered by Division Bench of this Court in Special Appeal No. 88 of 2021.

By means of this writ petition, petitioners have sought the following reliefs:

"i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding and directing the respondents to make payment to the petitioners as per the Instruction/Direction dated 30.09.2019 (contained as Annexure no. 08 to this writ petition).

ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding and directing the respondents to pay salary to the petitioners to the tune as the similarly situated daily wagers are getting pursuant to the order dated 29.12.2017 (contained as Annexure no.03 to this writ petition) as well as order dated 21.04.2022 (contained as Annexure no. 06 to this writ petition)."

      Learned          counsel      for       the
respondents,         however,    submits     that

petitioners are not directly employed by Income Tax Department and they are serving on contract and they are being paid salary through the contractor.

Without entering into the merits of the claim made by the petitioners, this Court thinks that ends of justice would be met, if petitioners are permitted to make representation(s) and the Competent Authority be directed to take decision thereupon at the earliest.

Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of by permitting the petitioners to approach the Competent Authority by making representation(s) for redressal of their grievance, within two weeks from today. If such representation(s) is made within the stipulated period, the Competent Authority shall examine their claim and take decision, as per law, within a period of six weeks' from the date of receipt of representation(s) alongwith certified copy of this order.

(Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.) 30.08.2022 Arpan