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The Jharkhand High Court stated that “Equal pay for equal work" has presumed the status of Fundamental Right in Service Jurisprudence.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by the Employer, Food Corporation of India for cancelling the Award by the Central Government Industrial Tribunal for regularization in service of a workman. While hearing the case, the single-judge Bench of Justice Dr S.N. Pathak stated that a similar workman who was appointed as a casual typist at par with the workman (respondent), was regularized as a regular typist on the basis of the Award but the workman has been denied. The court stated that there were ordered appointments of regular typists by the Management but the workman was not informed or given any opportunities to approve his as a regular typist.
The Court stated that the law is very well established on equality before the law hence the respondent is eligible for equal pay for equal work. Equal pay-equal work is not specifically declared in the Constitution as a Fundamental Right but in view of the Directive Principles of State Policy (Article 39 (d) of the Constitution), it has assumed the status of Fundamental Right in Service Jurisprudence in regard to the Constitutional decree of equality in Article 14 and Article 16. “It ensures a welfare socialistic pattern of a State providing RC equal opportunity to all and equal pay for equal work for similarly placed employees of the State,” the Court said.
The court stated that the orders of the Tribunal can only interfere if there is mass illegality and the order is obstinate, without jurisdiction. The Court does not find any illegality in the Award. Hence, no interference is warranted by the Court. As the workman already discharged from his service on achieving his age of 60 years during the pendency of the writ petition, the Court stated that he is entitled to all the remunerations in terms of the Award of 08.05.2009.
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