The central legal point established in the judgment is the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work, as well as the constitutional provisions under Article 229 and Article 14 governing equal protection and prohibition of invidious discrimination.

The Petitioners in the present Writ Petition has sought for passing of an order by this Court in directing the 1st Respondent to accept and implement the recommendation of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Madras High Court, as communicated by Registrar General through letter in RoC.No.61942/B/2016/G2, dated 10.02.2017 for the revision of the pay structure in favour of the staff of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India within a frame as may be determined by this Court.

2. According to the Petitioners, the Hon’ble High Court is one of the three pillars of the world’s biggest Democracy. As a matter of fact, once pay disparity was claimed with that of the service of the State Secretariat and it was granted after much persuasion and deliberation. Furthermore, this parity claimed was lower than the pay structure of both the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and the Hon’ble Delhi High Court.

3. The stand of the Petitioners is that the service of the Hon’ble High Court requires high calibre and also requires late hour sitting after the Office Hours. Because of the nature of same service condition and work nature of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and all the High Courts, the pay structure would be on the basis of ‘Equal Pay for Equal Work’. Indeed, the pay structure of Delhi High Court is on the higher side than the other other High Courts and equivalent to the Hon’ble Supreme Court. In reality, the nature of duties is one and the same for all High Courts in India and the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the pay structure of the various cadres under all categories of this Hon’ble High Court are at alarming variance.

4. The version of the Petitioners is that the pay structure of the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court was enhanced to the level of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India after a Court’s Order. Further, the Petitioners’ Association made an earnest Appeal to the Hon’ble Chief Justice in regard to their claim/demand for pay structure on par with that of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi and in this regard, had submitted a Representation dated 08.08.2016. The said Representation of the Petitioners’ Association was forwarded by the 2nd Respondent/Registrar General, High Court, Madras to the 1st Respondent/Principal Secretary to Government, Home (Courts-V) Department, Secretariat, Chennai with the recommendation of Hon’ble Chief Justice for grant of enhanced pay structure in favour of the Staff Members of the Madras High Court on par with the pay structure of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. That apart, such a recommendation of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of this Court was communicated by the 2nd Respondent/Registrar General, High Court, Madras on 10.02.2017 in RoC.No.61942/B/2016/G2 to the Government for issuance of necessary orders.

5. It comes to be known that the 2nd Respondent/Registrar General, High Court, Madras had addressed a communication in RoC.No.61942/B/2016/G2 dated 10.02.2017 to the 1st Respondent/Principal Secretary to Government, Home (Cts.V) Department, Secretariat, Chennai forwarding the proposal (as regards the representation submitted by the Madras High Court and Madurai Bench Officers and Staff Association, High Court, Madras dated 08.08.2016) pertaining to the revision of pay structure on par with the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.

6. Moreover, in the further mentioned communication dated 10.02.2017, the 2nd Respondent/Registrar General, High Court, Madras had stated that the proposal for the enhanced pay, in regard to certain categories of posts is based on the similar pay band of other categories in the Hon’ble Delhi High Court and also taking into consideration, the hierarchy of categories and their pay scales in the Madras High Court Service and also a comparative analysis regarding the pay structures of various High Courts, was done and the pay structure proposed is based on the Delhi High C