( 1 ) IN this group of 143 petitions, the petitioners who are primary teachers rendering services in primary schools run by the Municipal School Board of the Baroda Municipal Corporation have claimed that just as teachers in the primary schools run by the District Panchayat Primary Education Committees as well as teachers in the primary schools by the Municipalities and Municipal Corporations are paid salary in the pay-scale of Rs. 4000-6000; the first grade higher pay-scale being given to them upon completion of nine years service should also be the same i. e. Rs. 5000-8000 which is being given to the teachers in primary schools run by the District Panchayats upon completion of nine years service, that the said scale already given to the 63 petitioners should not be withdrawn and that the remaining petitioners be given the same scale instead of offering them the lower scale of Rs. 4500-7000.

( 2 ) THE facts lie in a narrow compass. 2. 1 the petitioners are primary teachers employed by the school board of the Baroda Municipal Corporation. At the time of their appointment, under the Revision of Pay Rules, 1987, the pay-scale for primary teachers was Rs. 1200-2040. The petitioners pay was accordingly fixed in the said pay-scale. However, upon coming into force of the Revision of Pay Rules, 1997, with effect from 1. 1. 1996, the petitioners pay-scale came to be revised to Rs. 4000-6000. 2. 2 in the meantime, the Government had introduced the scheme for paying higher grade pay-scales to the Government employees as per the Government Resolution dated 5. 7. 1991. The scheme was modified and by Government Resolution dated 16. 8. 1994, the State Government gave the benefit of higher pay-scales to primary teachers also. The resolution provides that upon completion of 9, 20 and 31 years service, primary teachers will be given first higher grade, second higher grade and third higher grade pay-scales respectively. Thereafter Government Resolution dated 14. 8. 1998 introduced certain modifications in the scheme to give higher grade pay-scales. 2. 3 63 petitioners herein appointed as primary teachers after 1. 1. 1996 were granted the first higher grade pay-scale of Rs. 5000-8000 upon completion of 9 years service. The other petitioners were accordingly waiting for the said higher grade pay-scale. However, the petitioners came to learn that by letter dated 1. 5. 2001 (Annexure "d" to the petition), the Director of Primary Education had informed the Offices of the Local Fund Audit that the primary teachers employed by the Municipal Primary Education Committees (known as Municipal School Boards) were to be given the first higher grade pay-scale of Rs. 4500-7000 and the pay-scale of Rs. 5000-8000 was to be given as second grade higher pay-scale. The petitioners also came to learn that the Director of Accounts and Treasury also addressed communication dated 16. 7. 2001 to the Offices of the Local Fund Audit that the primary teachers employed by the District Primary Education Committees were to be given the first higher grade pay-scale of Rs. 5000-8000 and the second grade higher pay-scale of Rs. 5500-9000, but the primary teachers employed by Municipal Primary Education Committees are required to be given first grade higher pay-scale of Rs. 4500-7000 and second grade higher pay-scale of Rs. 5000-8000. 2. 4 till July 2004, the 63 petitioners were getting their pay in the first higher grade pay-scale of Rs. 5000-8000, but on apprehending that the Administrative Officer of the Baroda Municipal Corporation was now going to act upon the aforesaid instructions and was going to reduce the first grade higher pay-scale from Rs. 5000-8000 to Rs. 4500-7000, Special Civil Application No. 11273 came to be filed by Nagar Prathmik Shikshak Samiti Karmachari Maha Mandal, Vadodara, a registered union of primary teachers serving in the primary schools of the Municipal School Board of Baroda Municipal Corporation. This Court granted ad-interim relief