AR. LAKSHMANAN, C. J.

( 1 ) THE Secretary to Government, Education Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, and the Director of Intermediate Education aggrieved by the order dated 10-6-1997, passed by a learned single Judge of this Court, allowing the writ petition, being WP No. 17142 of 1993, have filed this writ appeal.

( 2 ) THE parties shall be referred to by their status in the writ petition.

( 3 ) THE petitioners, who are 19 in number filed the writ petition stating that they are working as Lecturers, Senior Assistants, Junior Assistants and Record Assistants in Dr. L. B. Junior College, Visakhapatnam (hereinafter referred to as the College ). That the college, which was running without receiving any financial aid from the Government, was paying its teaching and non-teaching staff, scales of pay, on par with those working in Government institutions.

( 4 ) PETITIONER No. 1, who is working as In-charge Principal of the College filed an affidavit in support of die writ petition stating that he joined the service of the college in the year 1978 as Lecturer in Telugu, and was put in the pay scale of Rs. 430-20-650-25-888. As per the revised pay scales admissible to Lecturers working in Government colleges, he submits that his pay would be Rs. 3,259. 00 per month as on the date of admission of the college to grant-in-aid, and since the college was admitted to grant-in-aid with effect from 16-4-1990, he is now being paid Rs. 2,469. 00per month on the minimum scale eligible to a Lecturer, and as a result, he has suffered a loss of Rs. 790. 00 per month in his pay. Similar is the case of other petitioners.

( 5 ) THE petitioners submit that the subject of admitting an institution to grant-in-aid by the Government is to prevent exploitation of staff working in private colleges, by their managements and to improve their living conditions, and in this regard, the Government has also issued a G. O. envisaging payment of salaries to the members of the staff directly through bank accounts.

( 6 ) THE petitioners further submit that the members of the staff working in other institutions, which were admitted to grant-in-aid, along with the college, where the petitioners are working, were being paid consolidated amounts not comparable with the amounts paid to similarly situated members of the staff working in Government Colleges, but that is not so in the case of the staff working in the college, and that their repeated representations to the Government to do them justice failed, and as such, they filed the writ petition, seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to pay them salary in the scale of pay according to the length of service.

( 7 ) THE respondents filed counter-affidavit denying the allegations made by the petitioners in the writ petition.

( 8 ) IT is stated in the counter that Dr. L. B. Junior College, was admitted to grant-in-aid with effect from 16-4-1990 vide G. O. Ms. No. 96, Education (CE. II) Department, dated 14-3-1991. Having regard to the policy of the Government, at the time of admission of the college to grant-in-aid the petitioners were allowed the minimum of the time scale of pay on par with other colleges, which were admitted to grant-in-aid. The services of the petitioners for extending the benefit of grant-in-aid, will be taken into consideration only form the date of admission of the college to grant-in-aid i. e. , from 16-4-1990. The respondents thus contended that the petitioners are not entitled to any relief, as claimed by them in the writ petition.

( 9 ) THE learned single Judge, holding mat that Clause 5 of the impugned G. O. is violative of not only the doctrine of equal pay for equal work, but was also violative of the principles of natural justice, allowed the writ petition by reason of the order impugned in this writ appeal, and issued a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to count the service of the petitioners in the unaided institutions prior to 16-4-1990 for the purpose of fixi

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