Mahesh Chandra, J.
(1) The petitioner, Shri D. B. Katyal, is a former Assistant Registrar- of the High Court and has filed this Civil Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for "issuance of a writ of mandamus and/ or any other appropriate writ, order or directions directing the respondent to fix ''afresh the pay of the petitioner and other similarly situated officers after giving the benefit of two increments in the grade of Rs. 350-575/775-1200 as has been done by the Delhi Administration in the case of persons holding comparable posts".
(2) The petitioner was formerly working as an Assistant in Punjab High Court and had opted for a service with this High Court w.e.f. 31-10-1966, when this High Court was constituted, and was posted accordingly. He came to be promoted as Court Master w.e.f. 21-9-1967. The post of Court Master in the High Court is the same as that of Reader in Sanction No. 42/1/ 66-Delhi dated 29th October, 1966 of the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs and it was in scale of 350-20-450-25- 475. At the time of petitioner joining the service of this High Court, there were no Service Rules and Service rules were handed thereafter which came to be known as Delhi High Court Officers & Service (Salaries, Leave Allowance and Pension) Rules, 1970 (hereinafter referred to as The Rules 1970''). Rule 3 of the Rules 1970 provides as under ;
" LEAVE, allowances and pension : The rules and orders for the time being in force and applicable to the officers and servants holding corresponding posts in the Union Territory of Delhi shall regulate the conditions of service in respect of leave, allowances and pension of the Court''s Officers and servants: Provided that the powers exercisable under the said rules and orders by the Administrator of Union Territory of Delhi or any authority subordinate to the Administrator shall be exercisable by the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court or by such other Judge or office as he may by general special order direct : Explanation : For the purpose of this rule the posts specified in Column 1 of the Second Schedule shall correspond to the posts in the Union Territory of Delhi as shown against Column 2 of that Schedule".
(3) Perusal of Column 1 of the Schedule Ii of the Rules. 1970 shows that the posts of Superintendents/Court M''aster/ Private Secretary in the High Court were considered as equivalent to corresponding posts of Superintendent in Delhi Administration. Such provision implies that for all intents and purposes rules regarding fixation of pay provided for Superintendent in Delhi Administration would be applicable to the Superintendents/Court Masters/private Secretaries of this court. The relief claimed in this writ petition by the petitioner is that on his promotion as Court Master his pay in the grade of Rs. 350-575 should have been fixed at Rs. 400 in accordance with Delhi Admn. Notification No. F-3(16)il6 Service (8) dated 10th February, 1967 known as "The Delhi Administration Subordinate Ministerial/Executive Service Rules, 1967" and it is claimed that he was entitled to Rs. 400 from the date of his promotion and hence this writ petition.
(4) Even though the writ petition as it was originally framed was directed against Hon''ble the Chief Justice of the High Court but vide orders dated 10th February, 1989 B. N. Kirpal, J. directed that "it is further appropriate that Delhi Administration should also be imp leaded as a party as parity is being sought with officers of the Delhi Administration, Delhi Administration is Therefore a proper party and is hereby imp leaded as respondent No 2". In consequence notice was sent to Delhi Administration and the said Administration is now being represented by Mr. A. S. Chandhiok, Advocate.
(5) On 31st March, 1989 Shri S. C. Rawal, Assistant Registrar of this court representing the High Court submitted that "respondent No. 1 is not contesting this writ petition". Thereafter an opportunity was afforded to respondent No. 2 to file its reply within six weeks but no reply has been filed and Mr Chandhiok has submitted before me that no reply is sought to be filed because the matter is between the petitioner and the High Court. Thus for all intents and purposes there is no opposition to this writ petition on behalf of the respondents and it should be allowed on this short ground. However, I deem it just and proper to consider the matter on merits as well,
(6) It has been submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that originally posts of Private Secretaries/Superintendents/Readers were sanctioned in the grade of Rs. 350-20-450- 25-475 vide letter No. 42(l)166-Delhi dated 29th October, 1966 by the Government of India referred to above w.e.f. 31-10-1966 and this grade came to be revised to be that of Rs. 350-25-575 w.e.f. 10-9-1968 as is evidenced from the photo copy of the letter No. 42/1/66-Delhi dated 10th September, 1968 of the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. In these circumstances the petitioner''s pay had to be re-fixed on 10th September, 1968, in view of the new grade even though he had earlier been promoted on 21st September, 1967 and if hi? pay is so re-fixed in view of the Rules, 1970 granting the benefit of the parity to the Superintendents/Private Secretaries/Court Masters with that of the Superintendents of Delhi Administration, his pay ought to have been fixed at Rs. 400 on 10-9-1968. Certainly if the intention of the rules, 1970 is taken into account this result would follow and in that event in view of the provision in Ii Schedule of Delhi Administration Subordinate/Ministerial Executive Service Rules, 1967 read with Rule 5 the benefit of promotee to start at Rs. 400" would secure to the petitioner as well and I hold accordingly.
(7) Another aspect which has to be given thought to relates to the date of coming into force of the Rules, 1970. The said date given in rule I, sub-rule (2) is 1st April, 1970 and if that were accepted in that event the benefit of parity would not accrue to any employee of this court until 1st April, 1970. However, that would be unjust. Furthermore, it cannot be permitted in as much as it cannot be accepted even for the sake of arguments that the services of the employees of this court were not governed by any rules whatsoever till then. It cannot be accepted that the High Court Staff functioned ''in a vacuum without any. service rules. The only way to reconcile such a situation is that the Rules, 1970 would govern the service of the employees of the High Court w.e.f. the date of constitution of the High Court and if it is accepted then the same result would follow as has been arrived at above as the grades of Superintendents of Delhi Administration and Court Masters/Superintendents/Private Secretaries of this court were at par with effect from 10-9-1968.
(8) Even otherwise once the posts of Superintendents/Private Secretaries/Court Masters are declared to be at par with that of Superintendents of Delhi Administration the Court Masters/ Superintendents/Private Secretaries have to be given the. benefit which were available to the Superintendents of the Delhi Administration under 1970 Rules. In view of my discussion and findings above. this writ petition is allowed and the respondent No. 1 would now fix afresh the pay of the petitioner and other similarly situated officers after giving them the benefit of two increments in the grade of Rs. 350-575 with effect from 10th September, 1968. The scale of Rs. 350-575 was later on revised to Rs. 775--1200. It is on record that the Private Secretaries/ Superintendents/Court Masters in the Supreme Court were given the benefit of two increments in the grade of Rs. 775-1200 as well. The Supreme Court in Civil Writ Petition No. 801 of 1986 has directed that "the Section Officers/The Court Masters/ The Private Secretaries of this Registry will be entitled to the benefit of two advance increments in the initial fixation of their pay which was being given to them hitherto", and there can be no going back in this case. I, Therefore, issue a writ in the nature of Mandamus and direct the respondents to fix pay of Private Secretaries/Court Masters/Superintendents after giving the benefit of two increments in the scale of Rs. 350-5751775- 1200 as directed above. The payment of arrears on account of the acceptance of this writ petition as also the consequential relief be made within a period of three months from today. No order as to costs.
