JUDGMENT

KULDIP SINGH, J.— The Calcutta High Court, in the impugned judgment, has struck down the categorisation of Inspectors in the Housing Department as Grade I and Grade II, on ground that it violated the principle of equal pay for equal work. The High Court further directed that the Inspectors in Housing Department be given the pay scale which was being drawn by the Inspectors in the Animal Husbandry Department of the Government of West Bengal. This appeal by the State of West Bengal is against the judgment of the High Court.

2. We may briefly State the necessary facts. The Government of West Bengal by order dated June 4, 1965 bifurcated the cadre of Inspectors in the Housing Department into two grades. The said order is reproduced hereunder;

"I am directed to say that the question of improvement in the prospects of promotion of the Inspector employed under 24 Parganas, in connection with implementation of Housing Schemes had been under consideration of Government for some time past. After considering the question in all its aspects, the Governor was pleased to sanction formation, with effect from 10-8-1964, of cadre of these Inspectors under the Housing Department with the following two grades :

Inspector Grade I... Rs. 175-245-8-325/-

Inspector Grade II... Rs. 150-5-250/-

2. Of the total number of this Cadre of Inspectors 20% were converted into Grade I posts. As there are 9 (nine) posts in the Cadre, 2 posts belong to Grade I and the others to Grade II. The two posts of Inspectors on Grade I should be filled up by promotion of Grade II Inspectors according to the usual rules governing promotion of candidates from lower to higher grade.

3. According to the Government, the Inspectors in the Housing Department prior to bifurcation, were equated with the clerks. The bifurcation was done with a view to remove stagnation and provide a channel of promotion in the same line. As a result of the report of the First Pay Commission in the year 1971, the pay - scale of Rs. 300-600 was given to Inspectors Grade I and the pay-scale of Rs. 230-425 to the Inspectors Grade II. It is no doubt correct that the Chairman of the First Pay Commission recommended a unified cadre of the Inspectors, but the Government accepted the report of the majority of the members and maintained the two Grades in the cadre of Inspectors. The Second Pay Commission in the year 1981 examined the question thoroughly and on the basis of the material placed before it recommended the continuance of the two grades in the cadre of Inspectors. The Second Pay Commission recommended Rs. 380-910 for Grade I Inspectors and Rs. 340-750 for Grade II Inspectors. The Third Pay Commission in the year 1990 further maintained the status quo regarding the Inspectors. Keeping in view the recommendations of various pay Commissions constituted from time to time, the State Government came to the conclusion that the two grades in the cadre of Inspectors were to be maintained.

4. It has been further averred by the State Government that the Pay Commission recommended different pay-scales for Inspectors in different departments. The pay-scale of Inspectors in the Food and Civil Supplies Department was Rs.175-325 which was revised in the year 1981 to that of Rs. 350-600. The pay-scale of Inspectors in the Co-operative Department was Rs. 200-400, which was revised to that of Rs.425-1050. Similarly the Inspectors in the Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics were in the pay-scale if Rs. 300-600 which was revised to Rs.380-910.

5. The main contention of the respondents before the High Court was that the maintenance of two grades in the cadre of Inspectors was violative of the principle of equal work as the Inspectors Grade I and Grade II were preforming similar duties and their posts were interchangeable. The other contention raised before the High Court was that the Inspectors in the Housing Department are entitled to the pay-scale of Rs. 425-1050 which was being drawn by the Inspectors in th