$~147 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 20^th December, 2024 + W.P.(C) 2848/2013 VIJAY KUMAR AND OTHERS .....Petitioners Through: Mr. Suresh Sharma, Advocate versus DIRECTOR GENERAL BUREAU OF INDIAN STANDARDS (BIS) & ORS .....Respondents Through: Mr. Vivek Singh and Mr. Ritik Dwivedi, Advocates for R-1 to 3/BIS.

Mr. Ravi Prakash, Senior Advocate with Mr. Farman Ali, SPC with Mr. Anubhav Tyagi, Government Pleader Mr. Taha, Ms. Usha Jamnal, Ms. Lipi Garg, Mr. Chetan, Advocates for R-4 to

6/UOI.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE JYOTI SINGH

JUDGEMENT

JYOTI SINGH, J. (ORAL)

1. This writ petition is preferred on behalf of the Petitioners to implement Serial No.I of Section II of Part-B of First Schedule of Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008 (‘Pay Rules, 2008’) with respect to Section Officers (‘SOs’) and Private Secretaries (‘PSs’) of Bureau of Indian Standard (‘BIS’) w.e.f. 01.01.2006 and grant Non-Functional Selection Grade (‘NFSG’) of Rs.8000-13500 revised to PB-3 with Grade Pay of Rs.5400/- as granted to their counterparts in Central Secretariat Service (‘CSS’) and Central Secretariat Stenographers Service (‘CSSS’) based on historical parity.

Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 2848/2013 Page 1 of 30

2. Petitioners are employees of BIS, a Statutory Body, formerly known as Indian Standards Institution, registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860 on 03.09.1946 and are presently employed as SOs/PSs. It is the case of the Petitioners that employees of BIS were treated at par with other Central Government employees including CSS since inception of BIS (earlier known as Indian Standards Institution) in 1946 in all aspects including pay scales. Pay scales fixed for CSS/CSSS were mutatis mutandis applied to employees of ISI as well. As per Rule 79, Chapter XII of ISI Bye-laws, an analogy was brought out in Regulation 12(2) and (3) of Bureau of Indian Standards (Terms and Conditions of Service of Employees) Regulations, 2007 (‘2007 Regulations’), which provides that fixation of pay, grant of increment, joining time and connected matters shall be governed by the same provisions as applicable to employees of Central Government.

3. It is averred in the writ petition that there has been a complete historical parity in the pay scales between SOs/PSs of BIS and SOs/PSs of CSS/CSSS inasmuch as under 3^rd CPC, pay scale in all the three organisations for SOs/PSs was Rs.650-1200, followed by revised pay scale of Rs.2000-3500 in 4^th CPC and Rs.6500-10500 under 5^th CPC. As per 5^th CPC recommendations, DoPT vide O.M dated 25.05.1998 merged the posts of Steno Grade ‘A’ and ‘B’ of CSSS and re-designated these posts as ‘Private Secretary’ in the pay scale of Rs.6500-10500, following which BIS too merged the posts of Reporter and Personal Assistant with post of PS and re-designated these posts as ‘Private Secretary’ in the pay scale of Rs.6500- 10500. Further, vide the same O.M, DoPT fixed the minimum qualifying criteria of 3 years for becoming eligible to the post of SO/PS from the feeder posts of Assistant/Stenographer, which was equally implemented in BIS as Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 2848/2013 Page 2 of 30 well as CSS/CSSS cadre. It is further averred that not only was there historical parity in pay scales but even the duties, functions and responsibilities of Petitioners are similar to SOs/PSs in CSS/CSSS, which is evident from the charter of duties mentioned in Office Manual Vol. III, 1^st Edition, 2004, published by Bureau of Indian Standards (Establishment Department) and Central Secretariat Manual of Procedure, 13^th Edition, 2010, published by DoPT.

4. By an order dated 13.11.2003, DoPT introduced Non-Functional Scale of Rs.8000-13500 for SOs of CSS after acceptance of recommendations of the Committee set up by the Government of India in February, 2001 on Cadre Restructuring of CSS. Committee submitted its report in February, 2002 and one of the recommendations was that all regular SO