The principle of non-discrimination in pay revision and the need for parity in pay scales for equivalent posts were established in the judgment.

T.N.K. Singh, J.

1. Heard Mr. S. Deb, learned senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Somik Deb, learned Counsel for the petitioner as well as Mr. N. Majumder, learned Counsel for the State-respondents.

2. A short factual panorama, for deciding the present writ petition, is recapitulated as under:

The petitioner joined the service under the Tripura Khadi and Village Industries Board ('Board') on 28.12.1974 and as per the inter se final seniority list of the Supervisors prepared by the Board as on 1.11.1981, the name of the petitioner was appeared at Sl. No. 1. One Shri Amal Krishna Ghosh, whose name appeared at Sl. No. 7 of the said Final seniority list of the Supervisors as on 1.11.1981, was promoted to the post of Assistant Organisor (Extension) ('AO') by a letter dated 29.7.1987. Shri C.R. Dasgupta, whose name appeared at Sl. No. 5 in the said final seniority list of the Supervisors, challenged the said appointment of Sri Amal Krishna Ghosh to the post of AO by filing a writ petition being C.R. No. 211 of 1996 before this Court and by a judgment and order dated 8.7.1997 this Court allowed the writ petition directing the Board to promote Shri C.R. Dasgupta to the post of AO from the date on which his junior Shri Amal Krishna Ghosh was promoted, i.e., from 29.7.1987. Pursuant to the said judgment and order of this Court dated 8.7.1997 passed in C.R. No. 211 of 1996, the authority issued a Memorandum under reference No. TKB/2(235)/81-82/379-86, dated 18.05.1998, whereby the seniority list of the Supervisors as on 1.11.1981 stood modified to the extent mentioned in the Memorandum. Later on, Shri Tapan Kumar Shil and Shri Rabindra Poddar filed the writ petition bearing C.R. No. 321 of 1998 for a direction to give effect of their promotions to the post of AO with effect from the date on which their juniors were promoted and this Court allowed the said writ petition by a judgment arid order dated 27.09.1999. In compliance of the said judgment and order dated 27.09.1999 passed in C.R. No. 321 of 1998, the Board by issuing an order gave effect of promotions to the petitioners (the petitioners of C.R. No. 321 of 1998) to the posts of AO w.e.f. 29.7.1982.

3. It is also stated that the post of Assistant District Development Officer ('ADDO') is equivalent to the post of AO. The petitioner was promoted by an order dated 26.06.1987 to the post of ADDO from the Supervisor, but his juniors whose names appeared in the inter se final seniority list of the Supervisors as on 1.11.1981 at Sl. Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 7 were promoted to the post of AO by issuing a subsequent order by giving retrospective promotion w.e.f. 29.7.1982. Admittedly, prior to the coming into force of ROP Rules 1988, the post of AO and ADDO were of equal pay scales of Rs.1,450 - 3,710, i.e. the revised pay scales under ROP Rules 1988 and the feeder posts of both the posts, i.e., ADDO and AO are the Supervisors. Under ROP Rules 1999, the existing pay scale, i.e., Rs.1,450 - 3,710 was revised to Rs.5,000 - 10,300 w.e.f. 1.1.1996. It is the admitted fact that the pay scale for the post of AO, i.e., Rs.1,450 - 3,710 (revised pay scale under ROP Rules 1988) was revised to Rs.5,000 - 10,300 under ROP Rules 1999 w.e.f. 1.1.1996. The relevant portion of the revised pay scales under ROP Rules 1999 is quoted herein below:

Existing Scales of pay Detailed Break up Revised Scales w.e.f. 1.1.1996 Detailed break up

1 2 3 4

9.1450-60-1930-65-2450-70-3710 1450-1510-1570-1630-1690-1750-1810-1870-1930-1995-2060-2125-2190-2255-2320-2385-2450-2520-2590-2660-2730-2800-2870-2940-3010-3080-3150-3220-3290-3360-3430-3500-3570-3640-3710 10.5000-130-6690-150-8940-170-10300 5000-5130-5260-5390-5520-5650-5780-5910-6040-6170-6300-6430-6560-6690-6840-6990-7140-7290-7440-7590-7740-7890-8040-8190-8340-8490-8640-8790-8940-9110-9280-9450-9620-9790-9960-10130-10300

But the pay scale for the post of ADDO, enjoying scale of pay of the AO, i.e., Rs.1,450 - 3,710, was revised to Rs.4,200 - 8,650 by the Finance Department for p