U.T.ADMINISTRATION,CHANDIGARH Vs MANJU MATHUR
Bench: R.V. RAVEENDRAN,A.K. PATNAIK
Case number: C.A. No.-002823-002823 / 2009
Diary number: 6950 / 2008
Advocates: KAMINI JAISWAL Vs
RAJINDER MATHUR
REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2823 OF 2009
Union Territory Administration, Chandigarh & Ors. … Appellants
Versus
Mrs. Manju Mathur & Anr. … Respondents
J U D G M E N T
A. K. PATNAIK, J.
This is an appeal against the order dated 16.05.2007
of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana in C.W.P. No.
17144-CAT of 2001 holding that the respondents, who were
working as Senior Dietician and Dietician under the
Director Health Services, Chandigarh Administration, are
entitled to pay scales at par with their counterparts under
the Government of Punjab and directing the appellants to
give the pay scales accordingly to the respondents.
2. The President of India in exercise of the powers
conferred by the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution
made the Conditions of Service of Union Territory of
Chandigarh Employees Rules, 1992 with retrospective from
01.04.1991. The proviso to Rule 2 of these Rules
empowered the Administrator to revise the scales of pay of
persons appointed to the services and posts under the
administrative control of the Administrator, Chandigarh, so
as to bring them at par with the scales of pay which may be
sanctioned by the Government of Punjab from time to time
to the corresponding categories of employees. The
Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh, notified the
revised scales for the posts carrying existing scales in all
classes of service by notification dated 03.01.1992 and soon
thereafter, the Finance and Planning Officer, Chandigarh
Administration, issued a Circular dated 08.01.1992 to all
the Heads of Departments/Officers in Chandigarh
Administration informing them that the revised pay scales
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of various posts of their respective departments mentioned
in the notification have been revised on the basis of
corresponding posts which also exist in the State of Punjab.
Respondent nos. 1 and 2, who were then working as Senior
Dietician and Dietician posted in the General Hospital,
Chandigarh under the Union Territory Administration,
Chandigarh, made a representation dated 18.12.1992 to the
Finance Secretary of the Union Territory Administration,
Chandigarh, that the pay scales of Senior Dietician and
Dietician have been revised to Rs.1500 - Rs.2540 and
Rs.1350 - Rs.2400 respectively which were not at par with
the revised pay scales of Rs.2200-Rs.4000 and Rs.1500-
Rs.2640 of the corresponding posts of Dietician and
Assistant Dietician respectively under the Government of
Punjab. Respondents, however, were informed that they
have been allowed revised pay scales as per the conversion
technique.
3. Aggrieved, the respondents filed O.A. No. 1017-
CH of 1993 before the Central Administrative Tribunal,
Chandigarh. By order dated 20.04.2001, however, the
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Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench,
dismissed the O.A. of the respondents after holding that the
claim on the basis of equal pay for equal work is not all
pervasive as distinctions have to be made on the basis of
number of factors as per the law laid down by this Court
and if these factors are taken into consideration, the claim
of the respondents for parity in pay scales with their
counterparts in the State of Punjab was not justified. The
respondents then challenged the order dated 20.04.2001 of
the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench,
before the High Court of Punjab & Haryana in a petition
under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution bearing no.
C.W.P. 17144-CAT/2001 and the High Court held in the
impugned judgment that the Dietician and Senior Dietician
working in the Union Territory Administration, Chandigarh,
were entitled to pay scales at par with their counterparts in
the State of Punjab and accordingly issued a mandamus to
the appellants to grant pay scales of Dietician (Gazetted) of
the Directorate of Research and Medical Education, Punjab,
to the Senior Dietician in the Union Territory
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Administration, Chandigarh, and to give pay scales of
Dietician (Non-Gazetted) of the Directorate of Research and
Medical Education, Punjab, to the Dietician in the Union
Territory Administration, Chandigarh.
4. When this Special Leave Petition against the
impugned judgment and order of the High Court was listed
before this Court on 24.04.2009, the Court granted leave
and pending hearing and final disposal of the Civil Appeal
directed the Union Territory Administration, Chandigarh, to
appoint a High Level Equivalence Committee to examine the
nature of duties and responsibilities of Senior Dietician
working under the Union Territory Administration,
Chandigarh vis-à-vis Dietician (Gazetted) under the State of
Punjab and also to examine the nature of duties and
responsibilities of Dietician working under the Union
Territory Administration, Chandigarh, vis-à-vis the Dietician
(Non-Gazetted) working under the State of Punjab and to
submit a report to the Court.
5. Pursuant to these directions in the order dated
24.04.2009 of this Court, a High Level Equivalence
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Committee comprising the Director, Health and Family
Welfare, Finance and Planning Officer, Joint Secretary
(Finance) and Joint Secretary (Personnel) met on
17.07.2009 and after examining the nature and quantum of
duties and responsibilities of the posts of Senior Dietician
and Dietician in the Health Department of the Union
Territory, Chandigarh, vis-à-vis posts of Senior Dietician
and Dietician (Non-Gazetted) in the State of Punjab and
have submitted the following report:
“The Dietician (Gazetted) and Dietician (Non-Gazetted) in Directorate of Research & Medical Education (D.R.M.E.) Punjab are working in the Rajindera Hospital (Patiala) and Sh. Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (Amritsar) having bed strength of 1009 and 951 respectively, whereas the Senior Dietician and Dietician in the U.T. Chandigarh are working in Govt. Multi Specialty Hospital Sector – 16 which is a 500 bedded hospital. The Directorate of Research & Medical Education Punjab is a teaching institution in which the Dietician has to perform the multifarious duties such as teaching the probationary nurses in the subjects of nutrition Dietaries, control and management of kitchen etc. Whereas the main duties of Dietician and Senior Dietician in Govt. Multi Specialty Hospital Sector -16, U.T. Chandigarh are only to check the quality of food being
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provided to the patients and management of the kitchen. The Health Department of U.T. Chandigarh follows the rules and regulations applicable to corresponding categories of employees in the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab and not of the Directorate of Research and Medical Education, Punjab. In the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab there are no posts of Senior Dietician and Dietician. The workload of the posts in D.R.M.E. Punjab is definitely more as compared to the posts in the Health Department U.T. Chandigarh. Besides, the teaching work, the incumbents in Punjab are required to look after the basic work of supervision of food etc. in respect of a larger number of persons as is reflective from the number of beds in the hospitals, as compared to U.T. Chandigarh.
The High Level Equivalence Committee has considered all aspects of the matter and is of the opinion that the nature and quantum of duties and responsibilities of the post of Senior Dietician in the Health Department of U.T. Chandigarh are not comparable or equivalent in any way with the post of Dietician (Gazetted) in the Directorate of Research & Medical Education, Punjab. Similarly the nature and quantum of duties and responsibilities of the post of Dietician in the Health Department of U.T. Chandigarh are not comparable or equivalent in any way with the Post of Dietician (Non-Gazetted) in the Directorate of Research & Medical Education, Punjab.”
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6. We have heard learned Counsel for the parties.
We find from the report of the High Level Equivalence
Committee extracted above that the Directorate of Research
and Medical Education, Punjab, is a teaching institution in
which the Dietician has to perform multifarious duties such
as teaching the probationary nurses in subjects of nutrition
dietaries, control and management of the kitchen, etc.,
whereas, the main duties of the Dietician and Senior
Dietician in the Government multi specialty hospital in the
Union Territory Chandigarh are only to check the quality of
food being provided to the patients and to manage the
kitchen. We also find from the report of the High Level
Equivalence Committee that after considering all aspects of
the matter, the Committee was of the opinion that the
nature and quantum of duties and responsibilities of the
post of Senior Dietician in the Health Department of Union
Territory Chandigarh are not comparable or equivalent in
any way with the post of Dietician (Gazetted) in the
Directorate of Research and Medical Education, Punjab and
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similarly the nature and quantum of duties and
responsibilities of the post of Dietician in the Health
Department of Union Territory Chandigarh are not
comparable or equivalent in any way with the post of
Dietician (Non-Gazetted) in the Directorate of Research and
Medical Education, Punjab.
7. Considering this report of the Equivalence
Committee, the respondents are not entitled to the same
pay scale as that of Dietician (Gazetted) and Dietician (Non-
Gazetted) in the Directorate of Research and Medical
Education, Punjab, as held by the High Court in the
impugned judgment and order. This Court has held in a
recent case State of Madhya Pradesh & Others v. Ramesh
Chandra Bajpai [(2009) 13 SCC 635] that the doctrine of
equal pay for equal work can be invoked only when the
employees are similarly situated and that similarity of the
designation or nature or quantum of work is not
determinative of equality in the matter of pay scales and
that the Court has to consider several factors and only if
there was wholesale identity between the holders of the two
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posts, equality clause can be invoked, not otherwise. This
Court has also held in State of Haryana & Others v.
Charanjit Singh [(2006) 9 SCC 321] that normally the
applicability of principle of equal pay for equal work must
be left to be evaluated and determined by an expert body
and these are not matters where a writ court can lightly
interfere. This Court has further held in this decision that
it is only when the High Court is convinced on the basis of
material placed before it that there was equal work and of
equal quality and that all other relevant factors were
fulfilled, it may direct payment of equal pay from the date of
filing of the respective writ petition. In the present case, the
appellants had seriously disputed the equivalence between
the posts held by the respondents and those held by the
Dietician (Gazetted) and Dietician (Non-Gazetted) under the
Government of Punjab and the High Court instead of
referring this dispute regarding parity of posts under the
Union Territory Administration, Chandigarh, with the posts
under the Government of Punjab to an expert body has
erroneously equated the posts under the Union Territory
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Administration, Chandigarh, with the posts under the
Government of Punjab on the basis of the pleadings of the
respondents and issued the direction to grant pay scales to
the respondents equal to pay scales of Dietician (Gazetted)
and Dietician (Non-Gazetted) under the Directorate of
Research and Medical Education, Government of Punjab.
8. We, therefore, set aside the impugned judgment
and order of the High Court and sustain the order of the
Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, and
allow this appeal with no order as to costs.
.……………………….J. (R. V. Raveendran)
………………………..J. (A. K. Patnaik) New Delhi, January 14, 2011.
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