Judgment

VENKATARAMIAH, J:- The petitioners in these petitions, 80 in number, are employees of the Central Government working in the Central Bureau of Investigation. Some of them are holding the posts of Sub-Inspectors, some are Inspectors and the remaining are the Deputy Superintendents of Police in the Central Investigating Units of the Central Bureau of Investigation. There are two classes of officials amongst those who are holding the posts of Sub-Inspectors, Inspectors and Deputy Superintendents of Police. The first class of those officials to which the petitioners belong consists of those who have been recruited directly to the Central Bureau of Investigation. They are hereinafter referred to as non-deputationists. The other class of officials in those cadres consists of those who have been drawn from various State cadres. They are hereinafter referred to as deputationists.

2. In this case the dispute relates to the discrimination that has been brought about by the Central Government regarding the Special Pay payable to the two groups of officers, namely, deputationists and non-deputationists. While a Deputy Superintendent of police who belongs to the category of deputationists