IMPORTANT POINT
The principle of res judicata and issue estoppel applies when a particular employer has suffered an adverse judgment on an issue, and the court is bound by previous orders that have attained finality.

JUDGMENT

Sanjib Banerjee, CJ. - In view of the good grounds shown, the delays - of varying days in the several matters - to prefer the appeals are condoned and all the appeals are taken on board and decided on merits by this common order.

2. The appeals are directed against similar, if not identical, judgments and orders dated August 14, 2018, August 30, 2018, September 14, 2018, and October 8, 2018 and it is a matter of some regret that in this Court the appeals are taken up after such a long delay. The reference herein is to the impugned judgment and order of October 8, 2018.

3. A batch of writ petitions, which involved similar issues pertaining to the appropriate pay scales for certain categories of employees in Assam Rifles, was taken up together. The writ court referred to the pleadings from the earliest of the several matters before it and, in particular, to the legal contention asserted that a judicial decision in a matter of general nature should govern all similarly placed persons and similarly placed persons cannot be treated differently only because one of them may have approached the Court and obtained an order and the others may not have.

4. Indeed, the principle is of salutary importance in service jurisprudence, which has developed as a kind of specialised branch of law in this country as a part of administrative law. When an individual complaint confined to a particular employee is brought to a Court or like judicial forum and such employee obtains an order in his favour, the effect thereof may be confined to that specific employee. However, when a particular employee from out of a large number of employees complains of, say, any illegality or irregularity in the pay-scale or of any like matter that pertains to the entire cadre, and a favourable order is obtained, the principle embodied in the judicial decision would apply to all similarly placed persons.

5. The matter can be seen from another perspective. Once a particular employer has suffered an adverse judgment on an issue and the order becomes final, the principle embodied therein would apply to all similarly placed employees by the operation of the principle of res judicata or issue estoppel as far as the employer is concerned. Thus, if a particular employee holding a particular post complains of a general irregularity that prejudices not only such petitioning employee but also others in the same cadre; and, a favourable judgment is obtained by such employee on the broad issue that afflicts others of his ilk, the decision becomes binding on the public employer for it to be given effect to in the cases of all other similarly placed persons.

6. It is this principle which is at the heart of the present appeals.

7. The Assam Rifles is the common employer. According to the appellants, till or about the end of the last century, the ranks and designations in Assam Rifles were manifold and may not have been in tune with the ranks and designations in other paramilitary or Central armed police forces. The appellants say that a notification was issued by the Union in 1997, primarily merging those in the rank of Lance Naik with Rifleman and those in the rank of Naik with Havildar. It may be noted that, in ascending order, the four lowest ranks in Assam Rifles at the relevant time were: Rifleman, Lance Naik, Naik and Havildar.

8. The appellants assert that in addition to the combat cadres in Assam Rifles, there were several employees in the technical services including Radio Mechanics, Draughtsmen, Carpenters and other persons engaged in specialised areas. Such technical services personnel were not required to engage in any combat duty and were responsible for manning the offices and doing the incidental activities to support the combatants in Assam Rifles.

9. According to the appellants, in 1998, a further notification issued by the Union Ministry of Home clarified that personnel belonging to three of the 18 technical services in Assam Riles then - Radio Mechanics, Draughtsme