The Madras High Court and Madurai Bench Officers and Staff Association has filed a writ petition in the court challenging an order passed by Home Secretary Niranjan Mardi on January 29 rejecting the proposal to enhance the pay structure of the court staff on par with those serving in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court.

When the case got listed before Justices R. Subbiah and C. Saravanan, senior counsel A.R.L. Sundaresan, representing the petitioner association, contended that the government had no authority to reject a proposal forwarded on February 10, 2017, on the instructions of the then Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, now a Supreme Court judge.

He told the court that it was in August 2016 that the association made a representation to the Chief Justice for enhancement of their pay structure. In response, he, in exercise of the powers conferred on him under Article 229 of the Constitution, constituted a committee of judges to look into the request and make appropriate recommendations.

Accordingly, the committee analysed the pay structure of staff in various High Courts across the country and recommended enhancement of the pay structure of the Madras High Court staff on par with that of the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice accepted the recommendation and forwarded it to the government for obtaining Governor’s approval.

However, there was no progress for long forcing some of the employees who were on the verge of retirement to file individual writ petitions seeking a direction to the government to enhance the pay structure. It was only after they filed the cases which were heard extensively, the Home Secretary had issued suddenly issued the January 29 order rejecting the proposal.

Mr. Sundaresan argued that the government could not resort to such summary rejection, that too after two years, when the proposal had emanated from no less an authority than the Chief Justice of the High Court. He said the government would have no choice but to accept the proposal though it could make changes, if required, after holding consultations with the Registrar General.

After hearing him, the judges directed a government counsel to make sure that a counter affidavit to the case was filed by Monday. In his order, the Home Secretary had stated that the pay scale of the High Court staff was determined by the Pay Commission periodically on the basis of vertical and horizontal parity with State government staff as there were many common cadres.

“Therefore, any change in one department will have cascading effect on other department. Further, pay structure of one State cannot be compared with other States… as the resource opportunities are quite different. In Supreme Court and Delhi High Court, the structure is different as expenses are borne by Central government which has much more resources at its command,” the Home Secretary’s order read.

Challenging it, the senior counsel claimed, the High Court service could not be compared with government service since they were completely distinct. Appointment of officers and servants of High Court were made by the Chief Justice under Article 229 of the Constitution. Therefore, he would have the final say in their pay structure, the court was told.