fayaz ahmad mir and others vs PLANNING DEVELOPMENT AND MONITORING on 13 November 2026

O R D E R

M.S.LATIF, M (J) oral 01/ Through the medium of this petition, the petitioner have, inter alia, sought the following relief : “The Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to pass an order directing the respondents to declare that the post of Electronic Data Processing (EDP) Supervisor and the post of Junior Statistical Assistant (JSA) in the J&K Economics & Statistics (Sub-Ordinate) Service constitute a single, identical, homogeneous class under SRO-O3 dated 04.01.2005, and are entitled to complete equality in pay and grade. The respondents be document 2026.11.13 17:23:54+05'30' TARIQ A MOTA

further directed to accord equality and extend the benefit of SRO- 333 dated 02.O8.2018 to the petitioners by upgrading and placing their (EDP Supervisors) in Pay level-5 (Rs. 292OO-923OO, corresponding to Grade Pay of Rs. 28OO/-) at par with Junior Statistical Assistants, with effect from O1.O5.2018, strictly in accordance with the official recommendations of respondents. The respondents be further commanded to undertake consequential re-fixation of the basic pay of the petitioners in Pay Level-5 (Rs. 29200-92300) w.e.f. 01.05.20 18 under Rule 7(2) of the J&K Civil Services (Revised) Pay Rules, 2018 read with Finance Department O.M. No. A/Clar(20l8)-1225 dated 18.06.2019, including all due annual increments, and release the resulting arrears / differential salary. Along Side the main reliefs, the petitioners have also sought a direction, as an interim measure, that pending final disposal of this OA, the respondents be directed to forthwith process and give effect to the official recommendations for placing the petitioners in Pay Level-5 (Rs. 29200-92300) at par with Junior Statistical Assistants and provisionally grant them pay/ stipend in Level-5 at par with JSAs during their deputation to the JSA Training Course under Order No. 166-DES of 2026 dated 01- 06.2026.” 02/ What is deducible from the pleadings made in this petition is that the petitioners are seeking enforcement of their fundamental right to equality and pay parity under articles 14, 16 and 39 (d) of the Constitution of India with the post of Junior Statistical Assistant (JSA) in the Jammu & Kashmir Economics and Statistics (Sub- Ordinate) Service by extending them the benefit of Pay Level-5, corresponding to pre-revised Grade Pay in terms of SRO-333 dated 02.08.2018. Learned counsel submitted that under the statutory Recruitment Rules, notified vide SRO-03 dated 04.01.2OO5, the posts of JSA, Price Reporter and EDP Supervisor are grouped together in the exact same class, category, and Pay Sca1e, requiring identical educational qualifications, sharing the exact same method of recruitment and feeder cadre, undergoing the exact same document 2026.11.13 17:23:54+05'30' TARIQ A MOTA

promotional training, and discharging identical planning and statistical duties. 03/ Learned counsel for the petitioners, however, submitted that while issuing SRO-333 dated 02.08.2018, the respondent department upgraded the pay level of Junior Statistical Assistants from Ievel-4 to Level-5 and simultaneously upgraded the subordinate feeder post of Key Punch Operator (KPO) from level - 2 to Level-4, while omitting EDP Supervisors due to sheer administrative oversight. Consequently, the petitioners have been subjected to hostile discrimination and they have been denied pay equality with the similarly circumstanced equals - (JSAs) and have been reduced to the exact same pay level as their own subordinate feeder cadre (KPOs). 04/ It is further submitted that despite categorical recommendations by the respondent No.3 dated 0l.05.2024, 0l.06.2024 and 02.01.2025 affirming that EDP Supervisors perform identical duties and are legally entitled to Level-5 at par with JSAs under SRO-333 and despite respondent No. 4 deputing the petitioners alongside JSAs for the same mandatory JSA promotional training course vide order no. 166-DES of 2026 dated, 01-06-2026, the respondents have failed to accord pay parity to the petitioners. 05/ It is submitted that the petitioners were appointed in the document 2026.11.13 17:23:54+05'30' TARIQ A MOTA

year 2018 as Electronic Data Processing (EDP) Supervisors in the J&K Economics and Statistics (Sub-Ordinate) Service pursuant to JKSSB Advertisement Notice No. 05 of 2015 dated O1.O9.2O15 and the recruitment and service conditions of the applicants are governed by SRO-O3 dated 04.01.2005, whereby schedules I and II of the Jammu and Kashmir Statistical (Sub-Ordinate) Service Recruitment Rules, 1989 were substituted under schedule-l (Item 3) and schedule II-A (Category I, Class III) of SRO-03 of 2005, the posts of Junior Statistical Assistant (JSA), Price Reporter, and EDP Supervisor, declared and grouped as one and the same homogeneous class with complete statutory equality. Moreover, both JSA and EDP Supervisor are placed in the exact same pre- revised grade of Rs. 4000-6000 (revised to PB-l Rs. 5200-20200 + Grade Pay Rs. 2400/- under the 6th pay commission, and Pay Level-4 of Rs. 25500-81100 under the 7th pay commission prior to SRO-333 and both posts require the exact same minimum qualification and share the same method of recruitment. Learned counsel submits that, thereafter, the Government of J&K, Finance Department issued SRO-333 dated 02.O8.2018 whereby the pay levels of various posts were upgraded retrospectively w.e.f. 01.05.2018 and under the said SRO-333, at serial no.7 the post of Jr. Statistical Assistant was upgraded from level – 4 to level – 5 and at serial no.2, the post of KPOs, which is the subordinate feeder document 2026.11.13 17:23:54+05'30' TARIQ A MOTA

post to the petitioners as defined in Schedule-I and Schedule II-A of SRO-O3 of 2OO5, was upgraded by two levels from Level-2 to Level-4, making their pay equivalent to that of the petitioners. However, the petitioners were arbitrarily excluded from upgradation under the said SRO-333 without any reason or service related justification and the exclusion of the petitioners from SRO- 333 created an unconstitutional pay anomaly within the Statistical Cadre and on one hand the petitioners were denied equality with their statutory counterparts (JSAs) and on the other hand, their own subordinates (Key Punching Operators), who become EDP Supervisors only after earning a promotion, were placed in the exact same Pay Level-4 (Rs.25500-81100/GP Rs. 2400/-) as the petitioners. That thereafter the applicants projected their grievances before the superior authorities regarding this illegal discrimination and the respondent department vide O.M. No. A/Clar(2O18)-1225 dated 18.06.2019 issued an office memorandum regarding the regulation of pay and removal of pay anomalies arising consequent to the upgradation of pay scales/levels under SRO-333 dated 02.08.2018 under Rule 7(2) of the J&K Civil Services (Revised) Pay Rules 2018 read with Article 77-B of the J&K CSR. 06/ Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners, in order to bring their grievance to the notice of the respondents, time and again moved numerous representations document 2026.11.13 17:23:54+05'30' TARIQ A MOTA

before the competent authorities as also approached this Hon'ble Tribunal in via O.A. No. 6211217 12021, wherein this Hon'ble Tribunal vide its order dated 13-08-2021 directed the respondents therein to consider their representation and pass a reasoned and speaking order and in compliance thereof, respondent no. 3 passed a consideration order No. 22-DES of 2022 dated 20-01-2022, rejecting the claim on the premise that Grade Pay of Rs. 43O0/- (which pertained to the IT Department under SRO-193) was not prescribed in the rules and that the initial requisition carried Grade Pay of Rs. 2400/-, without addressing the core issue of pay parity with JSAs (Level-S/GP Rs. 2800/-) under SRO 333. It is submitted that some employees challenged the said consideration order in O.A. No. 641/2022 before this Hon'ble court. However, in the meantime, upon representations filed by the EDP Supervisors specifically seeking removal of the pay grade disparity vis-a-vis JSAs under SRO-333, which were endorsed by the respondent department on 2l .12.2023 to the Director General, E&S to examine and put up the same before respondent no.3, who examined the entire issue threadbare and issued two decisive official communications vide No. DES/ PFI EDP/ JDC/ 4 (Adm)/1343-44 dated 01.05.2024, wherein the Directorate projected the entire issue and categorically recorded that the EDP Supervisors are entitled to grade pay at par with the JSA in terms of Finance Department SRO

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333 of 2018 dated 02.O8.2O18. To substantiate the contention, attention of the court is drawn to communication bearing No. DES/PF/EDP/JDC/4 (Adm)/1343-44 dated 01-06-2024, communication No. DES/PF/EDP/JDC/4(E-7200256)/6929-30 dated 02-01-2025 and order No. 166-DES of 2026 dated 01-06- 2026, whereunder the respondents have treated the JSAs and EDP Supervisors as one and the same post through their service career and both are borne on a common seniority list in terms of order No. 344-DES of 2024 and both are deputed together to undergo the exact same junior Statistical Assistants Training Course under S.O 94 of 2023. To further strengthen the argument, learned counsel referred to a catenae of judgements of the apex court titled as Sanjay Kumar Upadhaya versus State of Jharkhand and others in Civil Appeal No. 140046 of 2024(25) INSC 1445, State of UP versus J.P.Chorasia (1989) 1 SCC 121 and Haryana State Minor Irrigation Tube Wells Corp. versus G.S.Uppal (2008) 7 SCC 375, wherein their Lordships have held that when a pay anomaly arises out of an inadvertent administrative omission in a pay revision notification despite complete parity under the recruitment rules and departmental recommendations, the court/Tribunal must step in to remedy the injustice and grant the upgraded scale from the effective date. 07/ Being aggrieved of the inaction of the respondents in not document 2026.11.13 17:23:54+05'30' TARIQ A MOTA

considering the claim of the petitioners and failure in taking a final decision on the representations, filed by the petitioners earlier, the instant O.A. has been preferred by the petitioners seeking appropriate reliefs from this Hon'ble Tribunal. 08/ Be that as it may, after arguing for a considerable period of time, learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners will be satisfied if this petition is disposed of, at this very stage, by directing the respondents to treat this O.A as representation of the petitioners and decide the same as expeditiously as possible giving due weightage to the communications referred to above. The proposition so made is not objected to by the learned counsel for the respondents. 09/ In view of the innocuous relief sought at the bar by learned counsel for the petitioners, this petition is disposed of, without commenting upon the merits of the case, by providing that the respondents shall treat this O.A as composite representation of the petitioners and consider and decide the same in accordance with law and rules governing the field along with representations filed by the petitioners before them earlier. While doing so, the respondents shall also take note of the communications referred to above, i,e. communication No. DES/PF/EDP/JDC/4 (Adm)/1343- 44 dated 01-06-2024, communication No. DES/PF/EDP/JDC/4(E- document 2026.11.13 17:23:54+05'30' TARIQ A MOTA

7200256)/6929-30 dated 02-01-2025 and order No. 166-DES of 2026 dated 01-06-2026 and place the petitioners in Pay Level-5 (Rs. 29200-92300) at par with Junior Statistical Assistants, and provisionally grant them pay/stipend in Level-5 at par with JSAs during their deputation to the JSA Training Course under Order No. 166-DES of 2026 dated 01.06.2026, of course, if they are similarly circumstanced with them. Needful to be done within a period of four weeks’ by passing a speaking and detailed order in the matter to be reckoned from the date a copy of this judgement as also copy of this petition is served upon the respondents. 10/ In the aforementioned backdrop, this O.A 1258/2026 shall stand disposed of along with connected M.As. (M. S. LATIF) Member (Judl.) TARIQ MOTA CONSULTANT (PS) 13-11-2026.

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