The principle of 'equal pay for equal work' has no mechanical application in every case of similar work. The Court should not take upon itself the task of determining or deciding the pay parity, and the fixation of an appropriate pay scale should be left to the experts.

J.B. Pardiwala, J.

1. By this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the applicants serving as 'Junior Chemists' with the Surat Municipal Corporation, have prayed for the following reliefs:

"7. The petitioner respectfully prays that, on the basis of the facts and circumstances as mentioned hereinabove and which may be urged at the time of hearing, the Honorable Court may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction to the respondent authorities and may be pleased to:-

(A) direct the respondent authorities to remove anomaly in the pay-scale prevailing in the cadre of Junior Chemist and Chemist and further be pleased to declare and hold that the Junior Chemists serving under the respondent Surat Municipal Corporation are entitled and eligible for the pay-scale of Rs. 5500-9000 at par with Chemist on the basis of the principle of equal pay for equal work, and

(B) direct the respondent authority to pay to the petitioners the pay-scale of Rs. 5500-9000, as being paid to the Chemist, from their respective dates of confirmation in the Corporation, with all consequential benefits, and

(C) Award the cost of this petition, and

(D) Pending admission and final disposal of this petition, the Honorable Court may be pleased to direct the respondent authority to consider the case of the petitioners for removal of pay anomaly prevailing in the pay-scale of Junior Chemist and Chemist, and/or

(E) grant any other relief or pass any other order which the Honorable Court may consider as just and proper in the fact and circumstances of the case."

2. The facts of this case may be summarized as under:

2.1 The writ applicants are at present working as the 'Junior Chemists' in the Water Works Department (Hydraulic) of the Surat Municipal Corporation. They all were appointed in accordance with the Resolution dated 29th July, 2005 which provides for the mode of recruitment on the post of the Junior Chemist.

2.2 It is the case of the writ applicants that they were appointed after following due process of law, and upon completion of the training period, were put in the pay scale of Rs. 3050 - 4590/-, which came to be revised as Rs. 5200 - 20200/- (Grade Pay of Rs. 1900/-) in view of the Sixth Pay Commission. The writ applicants are seeking pay parity with the Chemists serving with the Surat Municipal Corporation. It appears that prior to the recruitment of the writ applicants herein on the posts of Junior Chemists, the Surat Municipal Corporation had recruited Chemists pursuant to the advertisement which was issued in the year 1989. The recruitment on the posts of Chemists was in accordance with the Resolution of the Corporation dated 2nd April, 1981. It is the case of the writ applicants that there are different water works under the control of the Surat Municipal Corporation where the process of water purification at the treatment plants is being undertaken so as to provide potable water to the city of Surat. The persons working as the Junior Chemists and Chemists under the Corporation have the duty at such different water works in different shifts and shoulder the responsibility of monitoring the water quality and water purification. They have to collect the water samples from different areas of the Surat city randomly, and then test such samples at the laboratory in order to maintain the quality of water. It is the case of the writ applicants that from the date of joining of the service, they are performing the very same duties, simultaneously with the persons working as Chemists in the Corporation. The nature of work, their duties and responsibilities, functions and educational qualifications as well as the mode of recruitment to the posts of Junior Chemist and Chemist are the same.

2.3 Their grievance is that despite similarity in all respects, they are being paid the pay scale o