JUDGMENT :

Heard Mr. R. Iralu, learned Sr. counsel for the petitioners assisted by Mr. L. Iralu, learned counsel and Mr. E. Thiba Phom, learned Government Advocate for the State respondents.

2. The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioners invoking the principle of equal pay for equal work.

3. The petitioners are all presently serving as Ex-cadre/contingency Dobashis (DBs) under the establishment of the Deputy Commissioner in the following districts namely, i) Dimapur, ii) Kiphire, iii) Tuensang, iv) Zunheboto, v) Longleng & vi) Peren. The petitioners were appointed in between the year 1997 to 2014. The petitioners are all paid a fixed amount of Rs. 6940/-(Rupees Six thousand nine hundred and forty only) per month after deducting the professional tax of Rs. 110/-.

4. That the recruitment of DBs in the State is regulated by the scheme brought out in the Office Memorandum No. CNE-1/GEN/2015/154, dated 14/09/2018. The said O.M is the guideline for recruitment of Grade-III & IV employees under the District Administration in the State. Clause-2 of the O.M dated 14/09/2018 provides that 67% of the vacant posts are reserved for in-service candidates while 33% of the vacant posts are reserved for fresh candidates. The said clause describes in-service as employees who have been appointed on contract/causal/ex-cadre without sanction post. Furthermore, as per the said O.M direct recruitment to Grade-III & IV post is to be conducted by the District Level Recruitment Board (DLRB) while the regularization of in-service employees is conducted by the District Level Verification Committee (DLVC). The learned Sr. counsel for the petitioners submits that when the Ex-cadre DBs are regularized in service they are referred to as Grade-II DB and consequent thereto the DB getting fixed pay upon regularization are granted scale pay. It is also submitted that there are Ex-cadre/contingency DB who are granted scale pay which is carried forward on their regularization in service as Grade-II DB. The learned Sr. counsel however submits that the legal validity of Clause-3 of the O.M dated 14/09/2018 is under challenge in W.P.(C) No. 196(K)/2019 which is pending disposal. The learned Sr. counsel further submits that there is a Rule called the Nagaland Dobashis Service Rule, 1970 which regulates the recruitment of DBs, however since the rule has not been followed by the State, the same has become redundant and for the past 3 to 4 decades, the practice has been to first appoint persons as Ex-cadre DBs and thereafter, to regularize their service depending on seniority and existence of vacancies in accordance with the O.M dated 14/09/2018.

5. Mr. R. Iralu, learned Sr. counsel submits that the appointment of the petitioners as well as the other ex-cadre/contingency DBs has been loosely referred to as ex-cadre/contingency/adhoc/casual by the different District Administration and those DBs getting scale pay has been referred to as casual/adhoc. The learned Sr. counsel however submits that the nature of appointment of all the ex-cadre/contingency DBs whether appointed on fixed pay or scale pay is the same and they performed the same nature of work. There is however disparity in pay between the petitioners and the DBs similarly situated and the regular Grade-II DBs.

6. The learned Sr. counsel further submits that at present there are all together about 25(twenty five) ex-cadre/contingency DBs in the districts of Dimapur, Kiphire, Tuensang, Zunheboto, Longleng & Peren who are enjoying the scale pay despite the nature of appointment and the assigned works being the same as that of the petitioners. The scale pay of those ex-cadre/contingency DBs, it is submitted, is the same as that of the regular Grade-II DBs which at present is Rs. 3200-85-4900/- P.M as per the ROP of 1999, which according to the petitioners translates to around Rs. 17000/-(Rupees Seventeen thousand) per month. The learned Sr. counsel also submits that there are other ex-cadre DBs who have bee