C.K. Prasad, J.

Petitioners are employees of respondent No. 2 and are working in the Radiology and Pathology Section of Medical department of Bhilai Steel Plant and by this writ petition filed under Articles226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, they pray for a direction to the respondents to pay the overtime wages to them from the date of their employment after completion of working hours of 36 hours in a week; alternatively their prayer is to direct the respondents to take work for 36 hours only by issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction.

Shorn of unnecessary details, facts giving rise to the present writ petition are that by order dated 14th October, 1961 (Annex. R-3), Bhilai Steel Plant decided to grant overtime allowance to the office staff. Clause 3(c) of the said order explains overtime work, which reads as follows:--

" 'Overtime time' work means work done in excess of 45 minutes over the prescribed hours of work on any working day and includes work done on any Sunday or any other holiday."

Clause 3(d) of the aforesaid order defines prescribed hours of work as follows:--

" 'Prescribed hours of work' means hours of work prescribed in any office in respect of employees working in that office."

Petitioner's assertion is that they are ministerial staff and working hours of ministerial staff having been fixed at 36 hours, they are entitled for grant of overtime allowance if they work for over 36 hours. Their further assertion is that working hours of the employees in the Radiology and Pathology Section of Medical Department in all the Steel Plants of respondent No. 1 is 36 hours in a week, whereas petitioners working hours is treated to be 48 hours. On the aforesaid premises, grievance of the petitioners is that non-payment of overtime allowance for working beyond 36 hours is discriminatory and violates their fundamental right guaranteed under Article 16 of the Constitution of India. Stand of the respondents is that petitioners are not ministerial staff and in fact, they are paramedical staff. It has been specifically averred that nature of working and working condition of the ministerial staff and the para-medical staff are different and as such petitioners who are para-medical staff cannot be treated as ministerial staff. It is the stand of the respondents that certain department like medical department, public health, water works, dairy etc., are required to work for all the 24 hours and consequently their employees are required to work for 48 hours a week. Further stand of the respondents is that service condition of the employees of other units are different and in case their duty hours is fixed for a lesser time, petitioners cannot claim that their working hours should be the same on the ground of parity.

Shri Gupta, appearing on behalf of the petitioners submit that the petitioners do not belong to the category of either officers or industrial workers they must necessarily fall under the category of ministerial staff. Shri Chaphekar, however appearing on behalf of the respondents submits that the petitioners specifically come within the category of para-medical staff and they cannot be treated as ministerial staff by implication. I am of the opinion that the petitioners are not ministerial staff, but assuming that they are, respondents have placed on record the decision regarding working hours (Annex.R-5) which clearly shows that the working hours of the employees in the Pathology and Radiology Section is 48 hours per week. In my opinion, fixation of working hours is prerogative of the employer and unless it is shown that the same is arbitrary or in violation of any statute, the same is beyond judicial review.

Faced with this situation, Shri Gupta submits that fixation of different working hours for the petitioners and the ministerial staff is discriminatory. Petitioners are working in the Pathology and Radiology Section of the Medical Department and by its very nature the medical department is required