Hon’ble Ajoy Nath Ray, CJ.—These appeals are from several judgements of Hon’ble Single Judges passed both at Lucknow and Allahabad. In all these matters in the first Court, the State employees have lost their battle and the writ petitions have been dismissed in each case. In every appeal, therefore the appellant is the State employee and the respondent is the State.

2. The magnitude of these appeals is very large. The fate and future of some Twenty Two thousand State employees is involved in these appeals. These employees have to be introduced, if a little inadequately and a little inaccurately, in the beginning as Tubewell Operators and Part Time Tubewell Operators. They were all originally employed in the Irrigation Department of the State of Uttar Pradesh.

3. The principal government directive with which they are aggrieved is dated 19.7.2005 issued by the Chief Secretary of the State, then Ms. Neera Yadav.

4. By that order, all these employees were being sent back to the Irrigation Department from the Panchayat Raj Department so as to work thereafter again as Tubewell Operators and Tubewell Operators only. Until the 20th of July, 2004, along with certain other workers, whom we shall mention hereafter again, Tubewell Operators, were working under the Panchayat Raj Department of the State Government as Gram Panchayat Vikas Adhikari, i.e. Village Panchayat Development Officer. The difference between working under the Panchayat Raj Department as Village Panchayat Development Officers and working under the Irrigation Department as a plain and simple Tubewell Operators is most certainly there. It is because of these undeniable differences, which exist, that these cases have been fought out to their bitter extreme length. The Gram Panchayat Vikas Adhikaris have also been called multipurpose workers; their jobs are many and those include not only Tubewell and water pumping work, but also youth welfare, looking after the ration system, health and family welfare, agriculture, village development and Panchayat Raj development work generally. They would, needless to say, be posted in different villages all over U.P.; even as Tubewell Operators, their posting would be in villages. However, as multipurpose workers, they have far larger duties, secretarial jobs and some financial responsibility also in some cases with the Gram Panchayat and a much larger standing and footing. We were told during the course of argument that in some villages, where houses were available, Village Panchayat Development Officers would be allotted those houses for themselves. The benefits and the status are much more than the benefits and the status of a Tubewell Worker. It should be understood, to get a grip over the facts, that of all the duties mentioned above to be performed by the multipurpose workers, the most important and the most technical one is that of tubewell operation. There are a little under Thirty Thousand State owned Tubewells all over U.P. purchase, sinking and installation of a single tubewell of this type today would cost about Rs. 15 lac there is no village panchayat which has more than one State Tubewell; naturally there is no village panchayat which has a greater number either. The Tubewells are sunk to depths between 300 feet and 1000 feet, the larger depth being necessary for the very dry outer Districts of the State. The diameter of the sunk tube is 14 inches; the tubewell is capable of pumping out 33 thousand gallons of water per hour. It can be run for about eight to ten hours a day, although there was some dispute before us as to how these can now run in the state of unavailability of continuous (?) supply of electricity in the villages of U.P.; sometimes perhaps the tubewell would have to be run only at night when electricity is available.

5. Although now some rich farmers have had their own Tubewells installed, may be with or without captive power, the very large majority of the Uttar Pradesh farmers, who are on the poor leve