Per Shree Chandrashekhar, J.:

The writ petition being W.P.(S) No. 174 of 2004 was filed by 3 Technical Assistants namely, Sudhir Kumar, Chandan Kumar and Garib Mahto. The writ petition was partly allowed vide order dated 12.07.2006 in and by which the prayer of the writ petitioners seeking a direction to the respondents to revise the payscale of the writ petitioners in the scale of Rs. 5,500-175-9,000/was declined. Aggrieved, the appellant writ petitioner no. 3 has filed L.P.A. No. 638 of 2006 and appellant writ petitioner no. 2 has filed L.P.A. No. 483 of 2006. The National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology, aggrieved by the direction of the learned Single Judge to place the appellants in the pay scale of Rs. 5000-8000/, has preferred L.P.A. No. 522 of 2006.

2. Whether the writ petitioners are entitled to revision of their payscales in terms of Part B to the First Schedule of the Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 1997 or not, is the only issue involved in the present Letters Patent Appeals and therefore, all the appeals were heard together and are being disposed of by a common order.

Brief Facts:

3. The writ petitioner no. 1 namely, Sudhir Kumar (who is not appellant herein) was appointed on the post of Technical Assistant (Civil) in the National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology vide letter dated 03.04.1996. The appellant namely, Garib Mahto (L.P.A. No. 638 of 2006) and Chandan Kumar (L.P.A. No. 483 of 2006) were appointed on the post of Technical Assistant in the National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology vide letter dated 21.03.1997 in the payscale of Rs. 1400-401-800EB502300/. The minimum educational qualification for the post of Technical Assistant in NIFFT was Bachelor's degree from a recognized university with Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry or 3 years' Diploma having 2 years' Laboratory/Workshop experience or I.Sc. with all round Workshop/Laboratory Training and minimum 5 years' experience in Mechanical/Erection work. They were appointed on probation for a period of 2 years and their service conditions were governed by the relevant Rules and Orders of the Institute in force from time to time.

4. The 5th Pay Commission was constituted on 09.04.1994 which submitted its report to the Central Government on 30.01.1997. The Central Government constituted an Empowered Committee to consider the report of the 5th Pay Commission and recommendation of the Commission was looked into by a Group of Ministers also. The Central Government accepted the recommendation of the 5th Pay Commission on 18.07.1997 and thereafter, the respondent-NIFFT implemented Part A to the First Schedule of the C.C.S.(Revised Pay) Rules, 1997 in respect of the Technical Assistant-appellants and revised their payscale from Rs. 14002300/ to Rs. 45007000/.

5. The writ petitioners who are diploma engineers claimed themselves belonging to the Subordinate Engineering Cadre and claimed that they are not governed by Part A to the First Schedule rather, they are governed by Part B to the First Schedule of C.C.S. (Revised Pay) Rules, 1997. Raising a claim for grant of payscale of Rs. 5500-175-9000/, the writ petitioners submitted representation to the respondent no. 5 and the respondent no. 5 on 16.10.2003 made recommendation to the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India for sanction of payscale of Rs. 5000-8000/to the Technical Assistant-appellants. The Technical Assistant-appellants renewed their claim vide letters dated 04.12.2003 and 11.12.2003 for implementation of appropriate payscale under the C.C.S. (Revised Pay) Rules, 1997 and lastly, the writ petition was filed seeking a direction to the respondents to implement the Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 1997 in its true letter and spirit and to revise payscale of the Technical Assistant appellants in accordance with Part B to the First Schedule of the Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 1997.

6. A counter affidavit has bee