Common recruitment and similar duties entitle employees to pay parity regardless of departmental placement.

The twenty-six applicants were appointed as Data Entry Operators (DEOs) on December 11, 1998, in the pay scale of Rs. 4000-6000 (pre-revised) and posted in the Excise and State Taxes Department

They were selected through a common recruitment process conducted by the J&K Services Selection Board

Post-appointment, the applicants discovered that similarly situated DEOs/Computer Operators in the Forest and Power Development Departments were granted higher pay scales and grade pay despite having equivalent qualifications and performing similar duties

The applicants initially approached the High Court in 2002 (SWP No. 1833/2002), which directed the respondents on October 14, 2010, to consider the representation regarding the pay anomaly

After prolonged delays and contempt proceedings, the respondents issued Government Order No. 255-F of 2023 on December 26, 2023, rejecting the claim on grounds of the 2016 Unified IT Service Rules and the applicants' acceptance of the initial pay scale

The applicants challenged this rejection before the Tribunal

1. Whether the applicants are entitled to pay parity with counterparts in other departments who were recruited through the same common selection process.

2. Whether the differential pay structure based solely on departmental allocation, following a common recruitment, constitutes hostile discrimination under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

3. Whether the grant of "in-situ" promotions or the subsequent notification of Unified IT Service Rules in 2016 justifies the denial of foundational pay anomaly correction.

The court applied the constitutional mandates of Articles 14 and 16, which prohibit arbitrary classification and ensure equality in matters of public employment

It relied on the principle that employees recruited through a common process and discharging similar functions cannot be placed in different pay scales merely due to their posting in different departments, as established in Anil Raina & Ors. v. State and Anr. (SWP No. 1911/2013) and Sandeep Kumar v. State of J&K (SWP No. 1047/2003)

Furthermore, the court applied the doctrine that a pay anomaly constitutes a "continuing cause of action," preventing the claim from being barred by limitation despite administrative delays

It also held that "in-situ" promotion is not a legal substitute for the correction of a foundational pay disparity

The Tribunal observed that the applicants and their counterparts originated from a common recruitment source and performed analogous IT functions

The respondents failed to provide an intelligible differentia to justify why departmental allocation alone resulted in a lower pay structure for the applicants

The Tribunal rejected the respondents' plea of estoppel, noting that accepting an appointment does not waive the right to challenge a discriminatory pay structure subsequently discovered

Regarding the 2016 Unified IT Service Rules, the Tribunal held that a later administrative development cannot retrospectively justify prior irrational disparities or be used to deny uniform treatment to those drawn from the same recruitment pool

The Tribunal found the impugned order (255-F of 2023) arbitrary as it ignored the core issue of common recruitment and acknowledged that similar benefits had already been extended to the Power Development and Forest Departments

It held that the denial of pay parity was arbitrary and discriminatory

The respondents were directed to: 1. Remove the pay anomaly and fix the applicants' pay in the grade of Rs. 6500-10500 (pre-revised) at par with counterparts in the Power Development and Forest Departments

2. Grant notional fixation of pay and consequential benefits from 2002 (the year of first approaching the High Court)

3. Release actual monetary benefits with effect from October 14, 2010 (the date of the High Court's initial judgment)

4. Compute and release arrears within three months, failing which the amount shall carry 6% interest per annum