Supreme Court of India
V.K. RAMA RAO AND ORS.versusNATIONAL BANK FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ITS MANAGING DIRECTOR, POONAM CHAMBERS, WORLI, BOMBAY AND 18 ORS.
- Citation
- 1989 INSC 384
- Decided
- 14 December 1989
- Disposal
- Dismissed
- Bench
- RANGANATH MISRA
Holding
Fitment increments granted to employees who were in service before the retrospective date are a lawful, equitable adjustment and do not amount to unconstitutional discrimination.
Summary
The petitioners, employees of NABARD, challenged a refixation chart that granted fitment increments to officers who were in service before 1 February 1984 when the bank revised its pay scales retrospectively to that date. They argued that the increments violated Articles 14, 16 and the principle of equal pay for equal work by giving undue benefit to the older employees. The Court held that a retrospective revision of pay necessarily requires classification of employees into pre‑ and post‑date groups and that fitment increments for the pre‑date group are a legitimate method to avoid salary reduction and to reward past service. Such fitment is an equitable adjustment, not discrimination, and is consistent with service jurisprudence and the bank’s statutory powers. Consequently, the refixation chart was upheld and the petition dismissed.
Issues considered
- Whether the fitment increments granted to employees who were in service prior to 1 February 1984 constitute discrimination violating Articles 14 and 16 and the principle of equal pay for equal work.
- Whether the bank, under the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981, may adopt a refixation chart that provides differential treatment based on the date of service.
- Whether a retrospective revision of pay scales necessarily entails fitment adjustments for employees serving before the retrospective date.
Legislation cited
Subjects
pay scale revisionfitment incrementsequal pay for equal workdiscriminationArticles 14 and 16service jurisprudenceretrospective paybanking sector
Judgment
V.K. RAMA RAO AND ORS.
v. A
NATIONAL BANK FOR AGRICULTURE AND ·RURAL
DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ITS MANAGING DIRECTOR,
POONAM CHAMBERS, WORLI, BOMBAY AND 18 ORS.
DECEMBER 14, 1989 B
[RANGANATH MISRA, P.B. SAWANT AND
K. RAMASWAMY, JJ.]
Civil Services-Pay Scales-Fitment of employees in new scales-
To "be done by revising salaries upward-At times additional benefit
treated as personal pay till merged-Such procedure not discriminatory c
but eminently just and valid.
In response to the charter of demands concerning the revision of
pay scales, submitted by the officers of the Respondent Bank, called
"NABARD Officers' Association", the bank on 9.10.85 revised the pay
scales of all its officers as per settlement with the Association and gave D
the said revision . retrospective operation w.e.f. 1st February 1984,
following the same date as was done in the Reserve Bank of India. In
order to rix the salaries of the employees, who were in employment of
the Bank of 1-2-1984, the Respondent Bank prepared a refixation chart
which was duly approved by the NABARD Officers' Association. The
chart was made applicable to all the officers who were in service of the E
Bank on 1.2.1984. The chart was a device to fit the salaries of the
concerned officers in the new revised pay scales. Thus it contained
fitment increments for the employees in service prior to 1.2.84 to~oid
reduction in emoluments and anamolies which would otherwise have
resulted. These increments were to merge in the new scales in the course
of time as they were not designed to grant higher emoluments to the old F
employees for all time to come but to avoid anamolies resulting from
rerixation of salaries into new scales. The Petitioners challenged the
fitment increments granted to old employees. It was their case that
these increments gave undue benefit to the old employees as against
them, and since they occupied the same posts they were also entitled to
the same fitment increments. They also invoked the theory the 'Equal G
pay for Equal work' by alleging discrimination between them and the
old employees. It may be mentioned that the Association had 2284
members and except the present petitioners no body had made a grie-
vance against the refixation chart.
Dismissing the Petition, this Court, H
501
\
502 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1989] Supp. 2 S.C.R.
I·
A' HELD: Th~ revision of pay is always effected with a particular
·' date prospectively or retrospectively. Whatever the date from which it
is effected, it necessarily involves fitment of the salaries of the existing
employees in the new scales. A retrospective operation of the new scales
·-therefore Involves, for the same purpose, a classification of employees
__ B' · into two categories· viz., those who were In service prior to the
retrospective date, and those who entered the service thereafter. If the
benefit of the revised pay scales is to be conferred equitably on the old
\ and the new employees, tbe litment of salaries is in evitabte. 10 avoid it
is to deny the equal benefit of the revised scales to the employees in
senice prior to the date from which the new scales came into effect. (506B-C]
C The fitment/a.:justment in the new scales further, has to be done
by revising the salaries upward. This sometimes necessarily Involves
fitment in a higher stage in the pay scale than what the employee would
be entitled to by a strict application of the stage to stage adjustment •.
/ Sometimes the additional benefit is treated as personal pay till it gets
merged in the next higher increment. This is a known practice of equit-
0
able adjustment of the old pay scales to ihe new pay scales. There is not
other way of effecting the just and required adjustment. (5060-E]
The adjustment increments grilnted to the old employees on such
occasions automatically achieve the dual purpose of rewarding them for
their past service and of adjusting their salaries_ in the new scale. The
E
adjustment, fitment Increments are therefore not discriminatory but
eminently just and valid. [5 I2F] · ·
'
K.N. Ananda & Ors. v. The Karnataka State Financial Corpora·
tion, Bangalore & Anr., li985] Laoour & Industrial Cases Vol. 18 p.
F 1079;-P., Savita S/o Shri P.L. Savita v. Union of India, Ministry of
'··" . Defence ( Deptt. of Defence Production) New Delhi & Ors., [1985] I
'
• ··Suppl. SCR IOI; D.S. Nakara & Ors - v. Union of India, (1983] 2 SCR
Ii.S;·State ..Government Pensioners Association & Ors.. v. State of
Andhra'Pradesh, (1986] 3 SCC 501; Kanpur Suraksha Karamchari
Union v. Union of India, (1988] 4 SCC 479;· Reserve Bank of India &
Ors: v. C.N. Sahasaranaman & Ors., (1986] 2 SCR 881; Tarsem Lal
G Gautam & Anr. v. State Bank Of Patiala & Ors., AIR 1989 SC 30; C.R.
··seshan & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors., AIR 1989 SC 1287,
referred to. · ·
........,__ ....
• ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition Civil No. 1134 of
H 1986.
•
V.K. RAO v. NATIONAL BANK ISAWANT, J.] 503
(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India)
A
Petitioner-in-person and Mohan Pandey for the Petitioners.
K. Madhava Reddy, P.P. Rao, R.N. Keshwani and H.S. Parihar
for the Respondents.
B
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
SA WANT, J. The petitioners who are employees of respondent
No. 1 National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
(hereinafter referred to as the Bank) request for a direction to the
Bank to give them fitment benefits which were given to their counter
parts who were in the Bank's service prior to 1st February 1984.
c
2. The admitted facts are that on 1st February 1984, petitioner
No. 1 was in the Bank's service as a 'Grade-B' Officer·and was pro-
moted to 'Grade-C' Officer's:cadre on March 7, 1984. Petitioners 2 to 4
were not in the service of the Bank on Ist February 1984. Petitioner D
No. 2 was appointed as a 'Grade-C' Officer and Petitioners 3 and 4
were appointed as 'Grade-B' Officers, on various dates in March 1984.
Petitioners 5 and 6 were in the Bank's service in Clerical Grade prior
to Ist February 1984 and were appointed as Officers 'Grade-A' after
the said date.
E
3. The first respondent Bank came into existence on July 12,
1982 under an Act of Parliament, vi:z National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development Act, 1981. The initial staff of the Bank con-
sisted of the employees of the Reserve Bank of India and of those
recruited by the Reserve Bank of India exclusively to serve the erst-
while Agriculture Refinance and Development Corporation which was F
taken over by the Ist respondent Bank. On February 24, 1986, the
Bank revised pay scales of all its Officers as a result of a settlement on
the charter of demands submitted by the Bank's Officers' Association
called NABARD Officers' Association. One of the demands of the
Association was that the revision in the scales of their pay should be on
the same basis as of the revision of the Officers i:n the Reserve Bank of G
India. It appears that the NABARD Officers Association had submit-
ted its charter of demands on November 30, 1984 which was on the
same lines as the charter of demands submitted by the Officers Asso-
ciation of the Reserve Bank of India to the Reserve Bank of India. On
October 9, 1985, the Reserve Bank of India revised the pay scales of its
Officers w.e.f Ist February 1984. As a result, the Ist respondent Bank H
504 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1989] Supp. 2 S.C.R.
A also revised the pay scales of its Officers, as stated earlier, on February
24, 1986, and to bring it on parity with the pay scales of the Reserve
Bank of India, gave effect to them also from 1st February, 1984. Hence
the importance of the date February 1, 1984. Incidentally it may be
stated that the revision of pay scales of the Officers in the entire
B Banking Industry was brought into effect from that date. The said date
is thus not arbitrarily fixed by the respondent Bank for giving effect to
the revision of pay scales.
4. Since the revision of pay scales was given effect to from
February 1, 1984, it was necessary to fit the pay of the employees in
service prior to February 1, 1984 in the revised pay scales. Hence it
c was necessary to evolve some uniform formula for the fitments. The
Reserve Bank of India had already prepared a refixation chart for the
purpose. The respondent Bank also prepared its refixation chart for
the purpose. This chart was also approved of by the NABARD
Officers Association. The Association at the relevant time had 2284
members and except the present six petitioners nobody has made a
D
grievance against the said chart. By the present Petition what is in
effect, challenged is the said refixation chart.
5. The refixation chart which is an Annexure to the Petition
gives effect to the terms of settlement between the Bank and its Ofi-
.E cers, which as stated above, is a part of the general settlement in the
Banking Industry. The said chart is made applicable to all the Officers
who were in the service of the Bank holding either probationary, per-
manent or temporary appointments and its benefit is given from 1st
February 1984. The chart is no more than a device for fitting the pay of
the concerned Officers in the revised pay scales. Since the revised pay
scales were given retrospective effect from 1st February 1984 it was
F
necessary, as a first step. to fit the pay in the old scales into the new
scales on and from 1st February 1984. Such a fitment was necessary
only in the case of those who were in service prior to February 1, 1984.
The entrants in service after that date would automatically be treated
as being employed on the new scales from the date of their entry.
There was therefore, no need, as indeed there could not be, of making
G
fitment adjustments in their case. There is further no dispute that the
employees like the petitioners who were appointed either for the first
time, or promoted to the higher post, after February 1, 1984, were
given all the benefits of the revised pay scales including the arrears in
salary, treating them as if they were appointed initially in the new
scales.
V.K. RAO v. NATIONAL BANK [SAWANT, J.] 505
6. The refixation chart under challenge, therefore, contained a
table of fitment of salaries of those employees who were in service A
prior .to 1st February 1984. It is common knowledge that such 1fitment
has to be made not by reducing the existing pay of the employees but
fixing it into the nearest higher stage in the new scale. The table
incorporated in the chart therefore contained fitment increments for
the employees in service prior to 1st February 1984 (hereinafter refer- B
red to as the old employees) to avoid reduction and anomalies which
would otherwise result. These increments were to merge in the new
scales in course of time, when the concerned employees reached the
appropriate stage in the new scale. The increments given were not
designed to grant higher emoluments to the old employees for all time
to come. As has been pointed out by the respondent Bank, there was a
possibility of reduction in salary in some cases and of anomalies in c
other cases if a stage to stage adjustment was made in their salaries.
Hence the table was so prepared that the fitments .avoid the said conse-
quences. The said fitment adjustments in the salaries of the old
employees resulted in temporary increases in their pay packets,
although, as stated .earlier these fitment increments were to merge in D
futi\re increments in the new scales. The grievance of the petitioners in
this petition is directed precisely against these fitment increments
given to the old employees. It is their case that these increments give
undue benefit to the old employees as against them, and since they
occupy the same posts they are also entitlejl to the same fitment
benefits. That is the main relief which they have claimed in the petition E
by prayer (a). The other reliefs are declaratory in nature and inciden-
tal to it. In support of their claim they have invoked the theory of
Equal Pay for Equal Work and Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution
by alleging discrimination between them and the old employees. They
have also pressed certain decisions in support of their case.
F
7. As will be obvious from what we have stated earlier, the
whole basis of the petitioners' case is misconceived. It proceeds on
wrong presumptiOns and unwarranted premises. The p~esent is not a
case of discrimination between employees belonging to the same class
or of granting different scales of pay to them. The present is a case of
ad justing and fitting the salaries of the old emplovees belonging to the G
same class into the new scales of pay which are made available to both
the new and the old employees. If in'effecting such adjustments, it
becomes necessary to give fitment increments to the old employees, it
is to work out the equities and to do justice to them. Their past service
in fact merits it. To deny them such adjustment is to treat them
unequally by ignoming their past service and placing them on par with H
506 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1989) Supp. 2 S.C.R .
A the new entrants. For this purpose, however limited it may be, the old
employees in the present case stand in a different class from that of the
new. The classification for the purpose is not only justified but neces-
sary. The revision of pay scales is always effected with a particular date
prospectively or retrospectively. Whatever the date from which it is
effected, it necessarily involves fitment of the salaries of the existing
B employees in the new scales. A retrospective operation of the new
scales therefore involves, for the same purpose, a classification _of
employees into two categories, viz. those who were in service prior to
the retrospective date and those who entered the service thereafter. If
the benefit of the revised pay scales is to be conferred equitably on the
old and the new employees, the fitment of salaries is inevitable. To
C avoid it is to deny the equal benefit of the revised scales to the emp-
loyees in service prior to the date from which the new scales come into
effect. The service jurisprudence, therefore, makes it imperative to
grant such fitments in the emoluments of the old employees. The
fitment/adjustment in the new scales further, as stated above, has to
be done by revising the salaries upward. This sometimes necessarily
D involves fitment in a higher stage in the pay scale than what the
employee would be entitled to by a strict application of the stage to
stage adjustment. The provision is also, therefore, sometimes made to
treat the additional benefit as a personal pay till it gets merged in the
next higher increment. This is a known practice of equitable adjust-
ment of the old pay scales to the new pay scales. There is no other way
E of effecting the just and required adjustment. Thus, it is not a case of
giving undue benefits to one section of the employees belonging to the
same class, but is a case of conferring equitable benefits on the cild
employees and effecting a just adjustment between the salaries of the
old and new employees, as necessitated by the new pay scales.
F 8. As stated above, there is no dispute in the present case that
the petitioners were either appointed to the higher post or !hey came
in the service of the Bank, for the first time after February. 1, 1984.
Those who were appointed to the higher post after February 1, 1984
and who were therefore necessarily in the lower post prior to that date,
get the benefit of fitment into the new scales in their earlier lower post
G according to the very same refixation chait and received arrears of
salary on account of such refixation~ What they claim now is that
notwithstanding the benefit of the refixation they got in their lower
post, they should also get the said benefit in the higher post, as if they
were promoted to the higher post prior to Fc:bruary 1, 1984. Similarly,
those of the petitioners who entered the Bank's service for the first
H time after February 1, 1984, want the benefit of refixation as if they
V.K. RAO v. NATIONAL BANK [SAWANT, J.] 507
were in service prior to February 1, 1984. The claim of the petitioners
A
is thus on the face of it both unreasonable and unsustainable in law.
9. We may now examine the authorities cited before us. K.N.
Ananda & Ors. v. The Kamataka State Financial Corporation, Banga-
lore & Anr., [1985] Labour & Industrial Cases Vol. 18 P. 1079 was not
a case of fitment of the salaries of the old employees into the revised B
scales of pay. In that case, what the respondent Karnataka State
Financial Corporation had, instead done was to prepare a conversion
table and give the old employees salaries in the revised scale according
to the said table. The pay given to the old employees according to the
table had apparently no relation to the stages in the revised pay scale
at which the salaries of the old employees had to be fitted. The Corpo-
ration also could not explain the basis on which the said table was c
worked out. In fact, as is apparent from paragraph 16 of the judgment,
the learned counsel for the Corporation being unable to furnish the
basis of the differentiation in the salaries, submitted before the court
that in fact the Corporation wanted to protect the total emoluments
and to allow the new employees, who were petitioners in that case, to D
earn increments over and above the pay, as enacted in the Corpora-
tion's resolution of 30th March 1978 which was reproduced in the
judgment. But the State Government did not agree.
It is for this reason that the High Court there held that the
conversion table insofar as it was made applicable to the old E
employees only, was discriminatory in nature and therefore invalid. It
will thus be seen that the facts in that case were different and hence the
ratio of the said decision is not applicable to the present case.
P.Savita S/o Shri PL Savita v. Union of India, Ministry of
Defence (Deptt. of Defence Production) New Delhi & Ors., [1985] 1 F
Suppl. SCR 101 was again not a case of fitment of the salaries of the
old employees into a new pay scale. In fact, what was done in that case
was to prescribe two separate pay scales for Senior Draftsmen by
dividing them artificially into seniors and juniors, and awarding Senior
Draftsmen new scales while keeping the Junior Draftsmen on the old
scale. The Court, therefore, struck down the classification. · G
D.S. Nakara & Ors. v. Union of India's case [1983] 2 SCR 165
was a case of dividing the same class of individuals, namely, the
pensioners on the basis of an artificial date, "!Id giving benefit of
pension calculated on a new basis to those employees only who had
retired after 31st March 1979, while denying_ the benefit of the same H
508 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1989) Supp. 2 S.C.R.
A computation to those who had retired before that date. The classifica-
tion made of the pensioners into two categories on the basis of their
retirement date had no nexus to the object which was sought to be
achieved, namely to mitigate the hardship of the fixed income group,
on account of the ever rising prices, and of the lowering of the value of
the rupee. In fact, it was pointed out by the Court in that case that by
B extending the benefit to those employees who had retired prior to
March 1979 the Court was not making liberalisation of the pension
retroactive. It was only giving the benefit of the same basis of compu-
tation to all the pensioners whether they bad retired before or after
that date. The Court also pointed out in that context that retroactive-
ness is implicit in the theory of wages. When revised pay scales are
c introduced from a certain date, all existing employees are brought on
to the revised scales adopting a theory of fitments and increments for
the past service. The benefit of the revised scales is not limited to those
who enter service subsequent to the date fixed for introducing the
revised scales but is extended also to those in service prior to that date.
These observations would also make it clear that it is-a general practice
D recognized even by this Court that when new pay scales are intro-
duced, the salaries of the old employees have to be adjusted and fitted
into the new scales by adopting some formula of fitments and incre-
ments for past service. In fact, if such fitment is not made, the old
employees would get no benefit for the service rendered by them in the
past, and they would be placed on par with those who enter the service
E after the date of the revision of scales. 'That would be a case of
unequals being treated equally. It is, therefore, an absence of fitments
and adjustments and not their application which results in dis-
crimination.
In State Government Pensioners' Association & Ors. v. State of
F Andhra Pradesh. J 198613 SCC 501, the Government Order dated 26th
March 1980 providing for higher gratuity to the employees who had
retired after 1st April 1978 was challenged by the Pensioners' Associa-
tion on the ground that the benefit of the said higher gratuity was not
made available to them. The Court held that the provision of payment
of gratuity on stepped-up basis prospectively from a specified date of
G retirement, was not unconstitutional.
In Kanpur Suraksha Karamchari Union v. Union of India, [1988)
4 SCC 479 the Government of India by its Order of 25th July 1981
accorded sanction to treat employees of canteens established in
Defence Industrial Installation under Section 46 of the Factories Act
H as the Government employees with immediate effect. By an amend-
V.K. RAO v. NATIONAL BANK (SAWANT, J.] 509
ment, the· said Govt. Order was given effect to from 22nd October
1980. The question which was raised in the case was whether the A
employees who were recognised. as Government employees w.e.f.
22nd October 1980, were entitled to calculate the service rendered by
them prior to 22nd -October 1980 for the purpose of their pension, and
the Court held that the period of service rendered by the employees
prior to that date has to be counted for the said benefit. This was thus B
in effect giving benefit to the old employees of their past service.
fa Reserve Bank of India & Ors. v. C.N. Sahasaranaman & Ors.,
[1986] 2 SCR 881, what was challenged was-the combined seniority and
scheme of promotions for cadres of Officers and non-Officers in the
Reserve Bank of lndia. 1n the past, there was a separate department-
wise and grade-wise seniority, and the promotions to the cadres of c
Officers and non-Officers were effected on the basis of such seniority.
ln September 1962, a need was felt for the maintenance of a combined
seniority list at each centre for the purposes of promotions as recom-
mended by the National lndustrial Tribunal presided over by Justice
Desai. These recommendations for centre-Wise combined list were D
approved by this Court jn 1966. In 1970, the supervisory staff in Class-
1 was upgraded to staff officers in Class-I pursuant to the settlement
between the employees and the Bank on.January 9, 1970 subject to
certain conditions. On 6th June 1970, a circular was issued for intro-
duction of written examination for departmental promotions of clerks
grade-1/Assistants etc. to the post of Staff Officers Grade II in all the E
groups. The circular was not, however, enforced. On May 7, 1972 the
Bank took several steps towards 'equalising promotional opportunities
of employees by introducing what was known as Optee Scheme of 1965
and the Optee Scheme of 1966, and finally by entering into a settle-
ment with the Association of the employees on May 7, 1972. The
Ass<lciation by that settlement accepted the principle of maintenance F
of a combined seniority list at a centre. On the same date, the Bank
formulated a Scheme for promotions of staff officer Grade II after
giving full opportunity to the Association to make its suggestions. On
that ,occasion, tlie Bank and the Association further agreed by
exchange of correspondence that .the ratio of .direct recruits to the
promotees in the total strength of officers staff Grade II should be G
17.5% : 82.5%. On 13th'May, 1972, the Bank introduced administra-
tive circular No. 8 which was binding on all employees of the Bank. On
the same date, the Bank introduced another circular. No. 9 on
"Scheme of Combined Seniority List and switch over from clerical to
non-clerical" w.e.f. May 7, 1972 which was also binding on all
employees. The constitutional validity of this Scheme also was upheld H
by this Court.
510 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1989] Supp. 2 S.C.R.
On May 22, 1974 the Bank took a decision based on the recom-
A mendations of the Cadre Review Committee, and issued administra-
tive circular No. 15 to prepare a common seniority list and to provide
for another group mobility at the lowest level of officers in Grade-A
w.e.f. January 1, 1970. On January 7, 1978 the Bank took further
decision based on the recommendations of two Committees, and
B issued circular No. 8 to combine the seniority of all officers in Grade B
and above, w.e.f May 22, 1974, with a view to equalise the opportunity
for promotion among officers. Three employees who were Grade II
clerks working at the Nagpur branch of the Bank ever since their
employment, variously between 1962 to 1965, challenged clauses
(II)(a)(i) of the Administrative Circular No. 8 of May 13, 1972 dealing
with "the Scheme for promotion from staff officer Grade II" (later
C designated as Grade A) before the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High
Court. This clause provided for the number of candidates who will be
qualified to appear in the test at the written examination. The clause
stated that an estimate of the vacancies to occur in each office during
the panel year, i.e. Ist September to 31st August, will be declared by
D the Bank in advance, and the number of candidates in that office will
not exceed twice the number of such vacancies subject to other clauses
in the Scheme. The grievance of the petitioners was that the said
clause was violative of their rights under Articles 14 and 16 of the
Constitution since the chance to appear in the examination depended
not on relative merits but merely on the fortuitous circ.!lmstance,
E namely, the number of vacancies occurring in the particular centre in a
panel year which had no nexus with the purpose of promotion,
namely, to secure a fresh cadre <if staff officers, and therefore, the
Scheme was bad in law. The High Court found force in the submission
and struck down the said clause. In allowing the appeal filed by the
Bank, this Court there held, among others, that:
"In service jursprudence there cannot be any service
rule which would satisfy each and every employee and its
constitutionality has to be judged by considering whether it
is fair, reasonable and does justice to the majority of the
employees and fortunes of some individuals is not the
G touch-stone. Further, whether there has been denial of
equality of the view of promotion or any constitutional
right infringed or not cannot be judged, where interest of
!arge number of people are concerned, in the abstract."
3.2 "The reference held pursuant to the orders of
H this Court gated 2nd May, 1984 undoubtedly indicates that
V.K. RAO v. NATIONAL BANK (SAW.:\NT. J.] 511
majority of the employees are in favour of acceptance of A
the modified settlement. In matters of s"ervice conditions it
is difficult to evolve as ideal set of norms governing various
conditions of services and in grey area where service rules
operated, if more than one view is possible without sacrific-
ing either reasons or commonsense the ultimate choice has
necessarily to be conditioned by several considerations B
ensuring justice to as many as possible and injustice to as
few. These principles, however, significant do not autho-
rise the majority of the employees to trample upon the
constitutional guarantees or rights of the individuals or
minority employees. Majority cannot thwart or barter
away the constitutional rights of the minorities. The
c
constitutional guarantees are to protect this very danger.
But in judging the content of the constitutional rights, the
entire perspective of the equality of opportunity here and
denial of equal right in public employment have to be
viewed in a fair, reason11ble and just perspective. Viewed in
that light, it is true there may be individual instances exem- D
plifying injustices by postponing or delaying the chances of
promotions of the contesting respondents yet that does not
deny them their constitutional right in its proper measure,
and the consderations that have weighed with the making
of the modified scheme and in light ~f the other considera-
tions it must be observed that with whatever care and E
objectivity or foresight any rule is framed, some hardship,
inconvenience or injustice might to result but the par-
amount consideration is the reconciliation of the conflicting
claims of two important constituents of service-one which
brings fresh clerical employees and the other mature
experience. There has been a happy merger of these two F
considerations in the scheme proposed and in that merger,
no violation of the guaranteed rights of the opposing
respondents have occurred."
The observations have much bearing on the present case. As has
been pointed out hereinabove, in the present case also refixation chart G
of the salaries of the employees was worked out with the approval of
the Association of the Bank Officers concerned. The employees
involved were further large in number. Any chart evolved to fit the
salaries of the old employees who had entered the service during the
whole span of the period prior to Ist February 1984, was bound to
result in some employees getting slightly more and others getting H
512 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1989] Supp. 2 S.C.R.
A slightly less. It is not possible in such circumstances to satisfy all emp-
loyees to the same degree. Hence, as contended by the petitioners, if
in some cases. the employees have received some excessive benefit, the
chart cannot be faulted on that account. The chart as applied is a
uniform one and is designed to adjust the old salaries in the new scale.
In a large organisation with a large number of employees involved in
B the exercise, a few marginal cases of excessive benefits cannot be •
relied upon to invalidate the entire chart, for no adjustment chart in
such cases can be free from some defects.
In Tarsem Lal Gautam & Anr. v. State Bank of Patiala & Ors.,
AIR 1989 SC 30 and in C.R. Seshan & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra &
c Ors., AIR 1989 SC 1287 this Court has, in fact, held that a higher I
I-
category in the same class of employees on the basis of seniority-cum-
merit can be carried out and a higher pay scale can be given to such
higher category and that it is neither arbitrary nor unconstitutional to
do so.
D 10. The aforesaid review of the authorities shows that none of
them supports the proposition advanc~ by the petitiot1ers. namely,
that the salaries of the old employees cannot be brought on to the new •
or revised pay scales by giving them fitment increments as is done in
the present case. In fact, in such a case to refuse to fit the salaries of
the old employees in the new scales of pay by denying them the neces-
E sary fitment or adjustment increments, is to deny them the equality of
treatment. That amounts to ignoring their past service and to treating
them on par with the new entrants which would be unjust in itself.
The adjustment increments granted to the old employees on such occa-
sions automatically achieve the dual purpose of rewarding them for
their past service and of adjusting their salaries in the new scale. The
F adjustment fitment and increments are therefore not discriminatory
but eminently just and valid.
11. In the circumstances, we find no merit in this petition and
dismiss the same. There will, however, be no order as to costs.
G Y.Lal Petition dismissed.
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