JUDGMENT J.C. Gupta, J.
1. The present petition has been filed by 'Ans Kalin Nal Koop Chatak Association', a registered Association, which is affiliated to Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, on behalf of its five members, namely. Jagdish Kumar Trivedi. Ramesh Chandra Singh Verma. Ram Bilas Berlya, Nand Lal and Bishan Lal.
2. By means of this petition, the petitioners have challenged the termination orders dated 23.11.91 passed by respondent No. 3, whereby the services of the aforesaid persons have been terminated. The said persons were initially appointed on 6.2.85 as part time Tubewell Operators. It is alleged that although at the time of appointment they were asked to operate the Tubewell only for a period of two and a half hours per day but in practice from the very first day of their appointment, they were required to discharge eight hours duty as were being discharged by full time Tubewell Operators. The said persons were Initially appointed purely on temporary basis, but they were allowed to work continuously with some very short artificial gaps on papers without there being any kind of gap or interruption in continuation of service. They were appointed on a meagre fixed salary of Rs. 299 per month, while the regular Tubewell Operators were paid salary of Rs. 950 per month. Respondent No. 3 adopting a formula of pick and choose and to hire and fire without there being any reason of rhyme abruptly issued termination orders on 28.11.91 in violation of Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Articles 16 and 311 of the Constitution inasmuch as there was no dearth of work in the Tubewell Division and there was no adverse entry against the said members of the Association. They were not given any opportunity of hearing before the passing of the impugned orders. It is further stated that while the services of the aforesaid members of petitioner's Association were terminated adopting the formula of pick and choose, the persons junior to them have been retained in service, whose names have been given in paragraph 22 of the writ petition.
3. The petitioner's Association has prayed that the termination orders as contained in Annexure 7 to Annexure 11, terminating the services of the aforesaid five members be quashed and a writ of mandamus be issued commanding the respondents to pay to them a salary of Rs. 950 similar to their counterparts namely, the full time Tubewell Operators.
4. Mangal Sen Agarwal filed counter-affidavit on behalf of the respondents, wherein it has been stated that the services of the aforesaid members have been terminated on the ground of misconduct as they absented from duty leaving their Tubewells insecured without any permission and participated in the strike and agitation and were sent to jail on 17.11.91.
5. It is not disputed before this Court that a number of part-time Tubewell Operators, whose services were also terminated in similar circumstances like that of the petitioners individually or jointly or through their Sangh filed a number of writ petitions before this Court as well as before the Lucknow Bench for quashing the orders of termination and for payment of regular salary in the grade of Tubewell Operators on the principle of "equal pay for equal work."
6. It may be mentioned here that before the matter regarding the payment of equal pay for equal work was raised by some of the part-time Tubewell Operators by way of writ petition before this Court, some of such part -time Tubewell Operators, who were similarly placed, had approached the Labour Court for payment of salary in the regular grade and their claim was allowed by the labour court with the finding that the part-time Tubewell Operators were performing exactly the same duties as were being performed by regular Tubewell Operators. The State Government challenged the award of the labour court by filing Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation Department, U. P. and others v. Makrand Singh and others. Writ Petition No. 1502 (S/S) of 1992, The said writ petition was heard along with bunch of writ petitions, wherein the part-time Tubewell Operators had prayed for issue of a writ of mandamus commanding the State Government to pay them in the regular scale of pay which is admissible and is being paid to full time Tubewell Operators. By the judgment dated 18.5.94 the Writ Petition No. 1502 of 1992 filed by the State Government was dismissed ; whereas the writ petitions filed by the part-time Tubewell Operators were allowed and the Government was directed to pay all the petitioners the same emoluments, i.e., in the same scale of pay in which other regularly appointed Tubewell Operators were being paid, it may also be mentioned here that before the matter could be finalised, the Government had also issued a Government Notification dated 20.2.92, wherein it was provided that the part-time Tubewell Operators would be called as Tubewelt Assistant and all of them were given appointment letters in the prescribed form and instead of Rs. 299, a sum of Rs. 550 per month as honorarium was made available to them. This Government Notification was also challenged by the part-time Tubewell Operators in the aforesaid writ petitions. By the same judgment the Lucknow Bench of this Court quashed the said Notification. The said judgment was challenged before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The Hon'ble Supreme Court refused to interfere and the Special Leave Petitions filed by the State of U. P. were dismissed.
7. A number of writ petitions were also filed before the Lucknow Bench of this Court by part-time Tubewell Operators challenging the order dated 27.11.91 terminating their services. Their services were terminated on similar and identical grounds like those of the present petitioners, that they had adopted a course of going on strike and absented themselves from duty without leave and also made demonstration before the residence of Hon'ble Irrigation Minister. For that unlawful act, they were arrested and lodged in jail, where they remained for about a fortnight. The said writ petitions were also allowed by the judgment dated 20.8.91 on the grounds that as the alleged misconduct on the part of the employees was clearly the foundation of the orders of termination, such an order could only have been passed after complying the provisions of Article 311(2) of the Constitution and also the principle of natural justice. The orders of termination were, therefore, quashed.
8. Some of the writ petitions, in which also identical questions were involved, have been allowed by the Judgment of this Court dated 30.11.95 passed in Writ Petitions No. 22848 of 1992 and 31993 of 1992. Hon'ble Alok Chakrabarti, J. on the basis of the earlier decisions of this Court and the Hon'ble Supreme Court allowed the writ petitions and quashed the Government Order dated 30.2.92 and also directed the respondents to pay to the petitioners the same allowances and pay scale as were being paid to other regular Tubewell Operators.
9. In a similar matter. Hon'ble Dr. B. S. Chauhan, J. In Writ Petition No. 26415 of 1990 decided on 11.12.95, (1996) 1 UPLBBC 9 held that the part-time Tubewell Operators are entitled to get the same allowance in the same scale of pay in which other regularly appointed Tubewell Operators were being paid.
10. Since the controversy involved in the present writ petition stands already concluded and this Court finds no reason to take a different view, the orders of termination of service of the aforesaid five members of petitioner's Association are liable to be quashed. In the present case also before passing the orders of termination of petitioners' services, undlsputedly no opportunity to show cause had been afforded to the petitioners and the impugned orders of termination were passed without complying with the provisions of Article 311(2) of the Constitution of India and also the principles of natural justice.
11. For the above reasons, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned orders contained in Annexure 7 to Annexure 11 terminating the services of the petitioner's members, whose names have been stated in paragraph 22 of the writ petition, are quashed. The respondents are further directed to treat the petitioners in service and to pay them regular salary in the same scale of pay in which other regularly appointed Tubewell Operators are being paid, on the ground of "equal pay for equal work." it is, however, made clear that for the alleged misconduct on the part of the petitioners. It shall be open to the respondents to pass fresh orders as they may consider necessary after holding an inquiry in accordance with law. In the circumstances, there will be no order as costs.
12. With these directions, this writ petition is allowed.