Judgment :-

Deepak Verma, J.

1. In these and connected appeals, we are required to consider the effect and implication of the Office Memorandum No.13(1)-IC/91 dated 19.10.1994 (hereinafter for the sake of brevity shall be referred to as 'O.M.') issued by Government of India, Ministry of Finance, with regard to revision of pay scales of Draughtsmen Grade I, Grade II and Grade III in all Government of India offices. As it was felt that Draughtsmen of various Departments, even though discharging same functions, were paid different pay scales, thus to bring parity throughout the country with regard to their pay scales, the aforesaid O.M. was issued. The said O.M. came to be considered by the various High Courts namely, High Court of Karnataka, High Court of Andhra Pradesh, High Court of Madras and High Court of Gujarat as many Draughtsmen had approached the different Benches of Central Administrative Tribunals for extending them the benefits of the O.M. Since the benefit was extended to them by the different Tribunals, Union of India and/or Department of Telecommunications had approached the jurisdictional High Courts challenging it. However, there have been divergent views with regard