JUDGMENT

S.C. AGRAWAL, J.:- Special Leave granted.

2. Heard counsel for the parties.

3. These appeals by Special Leave are directed against the judgment dated November 12, 1990 of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Writ Appeals Nos. 1669 and 1714 of 1989 arising out of Writ Petition No. 578 of 1986 by the appellant.

4. The appellant joined the Transport Department of the Tirumala Tirputi Devasthanams (hereinafter referred to as TTD) on the post of Workshop Superintendent on May 4, 1963. He was appointed on the said post temporarily by a memo dated April 27, 1968. The said appointment of the appellant was subsequently regularised and he was confirmed on the said post with effect from June 11, 1970. Initially the pay of the appellant was fixed in, the scale of Rs. 180-350. In 1969, it was revised to Rs. 200-400. On September 2, 1972, the Commissioner of Endowments, Hyderabad directed the TTD to revise the scales of pay of its employees in the Transport Department and to bring them at par with the scales of pay of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (hereinafter referred to as APSRTC) and the said revision was to be made effective from May 1, 1970. No revision was made in the pay scales of the appellant and he continued to be in the scale of Rs. 200-400. The appellant filed a Writ Petition (No. 5816 of 1972) in the High Court wherein he claimed that he should be given the scale of pay of Assistant Works Manager in APSRTC, which was, Rs. 500-900 or at least the scale of pay of Transport Engineer in TTD which was Rs. 400-800. The said writ petition was opposed by the Executive Officer, TTD who claimed that the post of Workshop Superintendent is equivalent to the post of Superintendent on the ministerial side in the TTD and the appellant was entitled to the same scale of pay. The said writ petition was decided by a learned single Judge of the High Court (Chennakesav Reddy, J.) by judgment dated December 23, 1974. The learned Judge, after taking into consideration the qualifications of the appellant, namely, diploma in mechanical engineering, as well as the duties prescribed by the TTD for the post of Workshop Superintendent, held that the equation of the post of Workshop Superintendent to that of the Superintendent on the ministerial side of the TTD and payment of the same scale of pay to the appellant cannot but be declared as arbitrary and unfair. The learned Judge directed the TTD to consider the fixation of the scale of pay of the appellant above that of the Assistant Mechnical Foreman and below that of the Transport Engineer, with effect from May 1, 1970. In pursuance of the aforesaid direction of the High Court, the Board of Trustees of the TTD by resolution dated June 29, 1975, gave its sanction to the proposal based on the recommendation of the General Manager that since the nature of duties performed by the Workshop Superintendent is similar to that of the Transport Engineer and other Depot Managers, the said post may be put in the scale of Rs. 350-25-600-30-750. The appellant was therefore placed in the scale of Rs. 350-750 with effect from May 1, 1970. On the revision of the pay scales in 1974, as a result of merger of DA, the pay of the appellant was fixed at Rs. 600-1100.

5. With effect from August 10, 1975, the Transport Department of the TTD was transferred to the APSRTC and the services of the appellant were also transferred to the said Corporation. Thereafter, the appellant was posted on the post of Mechanical Ereman. The appellant filed a Writ Petition (No. 3322 of 1976) in the High Court wherein he submitted that the post of Foreman is inferior to the post of workshop Superintendent held by him in the TTD and therefore he should be posted on the next higher post in the APSRTC which was that of Assistant Mechanical Engineer, in scale of pay of Rs. 700-1200. The said Writ Petition was dismissed by a learned single Judge (Chinnappa Reddy, J. as he then was) by order dated February 28, 1978 on the view that u