ANANT S. DAVE, J. ( 1 ) THIS petition is filed by the petitioner-Bin Rajyapatrit Technical Karmachari Mandal, a recognised Association by the Government of Gujarat, through its President and Secretary, for claiming parity of pay-scale for the cadre of Surveyors in the Town Planning and Valuation Department in the grade of Rs. 1640-2900 at par with the cadre of Additional Assistant Engineers in Roads and Buildings Department, whose grades have been revised with effect from 1. 4. 1992 and fixed at Rs. 1640-2900. ( 2 ) ACCORDING to the petitioners, they made several representations to the respondent-authority so as to treat them at par with the Additional Assistant Engineers in view of the fact that under the earlier two pay revisions, employees of these two cadres were treated at par in view of the fact that they performed the same nature of work, according to the petitioners. ( 3 ) IT is the case of the petitioners that the recruitment rules for the cadre of Surveyors in the Town Planning and Valuation Department were framed vide notification dated 17. 5. 1975, as produced by the petitioners at Annexure:a to the petition. According to the petitioners, as per the Gujarat Civil Service (Revision of Pay) Rules, 1975, cadre of Surveyors was placed in the scale of Rs. 425-700, which was further revised to Rs. 1400-2300 by the Gujarat Civil Service (Pay Revision) Rules, 1987. ( 4 ) ACCORDING to the petitioners, recruitment rules framed for the cadre of Additional Assistant Engineer (Civil), vide notification dated 5. 7. 1982, as produced by the petitioner at Annexure:b to the petition provided certain qualifications and criteria, which are also at par with the recruitment rules framed for the Surveyors of the Town Planning Department. According to the petitioners, basic qualification of Diploma in Civil Engineering is relevant criteria for appointment to the post of Surveyors as well as Additional Assistant Engineers. 4. 1 therefore, looking to the nature of work, functions and responsibility of both the cadres, the respondent-government has treated both the cadres, namely, Surveyors in the Town Planning Department and Additional Assistant Engineers at par in the matter of pay-scales and even Revision of Pay Rules of 1975 and 1987 had given them equal pay-scale of Rs. 425-700 and subsequently of Rs. 1400-2300 by Revision of Pay Rules, 1987. 425-700 and subsequently of Rs. 1400-2300 by Revision of Pay Rules, 1987. ( 5 ) THE petitioners have stated that various functions and duties to be performed by the Surveyors and Additional Assistant Engineers are, by and large, of the same nature and the details about the guidelines incorporated by the department of Town Planning are relied on by the petitioners to justify their claim for parity in pay at par with the Additional Assistant Engineers of P. W. D. Department. ( 6 ) THE main grievance as agitated and stated hereinabove by the petitioners is that the Government of Gujarat, vide notification dated 9. 10. 92 further revised pay-scales of the cadre of Additional Assistant Engineers (Civil) in the pay-scale of Rs. 1640-2900 with effect from 1. 4. 92. The said notification is produced at Annexure:d to the petition. According to the petitioners, various other departments have also revised pay-scales of Additional Assistant Engineers with effect from 1. 4. 92, which included Health and Family Welfare Department, Irrigation Department, Water Resources, Investigation Circles and Roads and Buildings Department, while the petitioners belonging to the cadre of Surveyors in the Town Planning and Valuation Department, who were treated as par with the Additional Assistant Engineers uptill ROP Rules of 1987 were not given the benefit of the said notification. ( 7 ) THEREFORE, the petitioners made representations to the government on 16. 11. 1992 with a a request to consider the case of the cadre of Surveyors at par with the Additional Assistant Engineers of all other departments and also to extend the same revision of pay-scale of Rs. 1640-2900. Even the Additional Chief Town Planner had also send his recommendation vide letter dated 25. 1. 1993 to the Under Secretary, Urban Development and Urban Housing Department with a comparative study of the Rules and nature of work of the cadre of Surveyors and Additional Assistant Engineers (Civil) for the purpose of deciding the issue of revision of pay-scales and, thereafter, pursuant to the letter of the Chief Town Planner, dated 15. 3. 1993, asking the petitioner-Association to furnish detailed information regarding the the nature of the work and relevant rules of both the cadres, the Association submitted such information vide letter dated 7. 4. 1993 and since no decision was taken nor any reply was received, a reminder was also sent by the petitioner0association on 18. 6. 1993. 3. 1993, asking the petitioner-Association to furnish detailed information regarding the the nature of the work and relevant rules of both the cadres, the Association submitted such information vide letter dated 7. 4. 1993 and since no decision was taken nor any reply was received, a reminder was also sent by the petitioner0association on 18. 6. 1993. ( 8 ) HOWEVER, subsequently, by an order dated 27. 7. 1993, the government had rejected the demand of the petitioner-Association to revise the pay-scale of Surveyors and denied the benefit of parity in pay-scale. ( 9 ) THE petitioner-Association was not satisfied with the said reply dated 27th July, 1993, which contained no reasons and, therefore, detailed representation was given on 9. 8. 1993 to the Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, requesting to review the earlier order and thereafter a reminder was sent by the petitioner-Association on 13. 9. 1993. However, no reply was received thereafter according to the petitioner-Association. Even an effort was made by the petitioner-Association by making a representation to the Committee formed for the purpose of removing wage anomalies of the government servants and requested the Committee to consider revision of pay-scale of the Surveyors to the pay-scale of of Rs. 1640-2900 at par with the Additional Assistant Engineers. Thereafter, reply was received from the Under Secretary of the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, dated 30th November, 1994, addressed to the Chief Town Planner of the department, where claim made by the petitioner-Association for review of the earlier decision was also rejected. The petitioner-Association had made last effort by way of a representation to the concerned Honble Minister of the department on 20. 6. 1995. ( 10 ) AFFIDAVIT-IN-REPLY is filed by the respondent-authority, wherein it is emphatically denied that the members of the petitioner-Association in the cadre of Surveyors in the Town Planning and Valuation Department are not entitled to parity in pay-scale on par with the pay-scale given to the Additional Assistant Engineers of various departments of the State of Gujarat. 10. 1995. ( 10 ) AFFIDAVIT-IN-REPLY is filed by the respondent-authority, wherein it is emphatically denied that the members of the petitioner-Association in the cadre of Surveyors in the Town Planning and Valuation Department are not entitled to parity in pay-scale on par with the pay-scale given to the Additional Assistant Engineers of various departments of the State of Gujarat. 10. 1 it is stated in the affidavit-in-reply that the State of Gujarat had decided to accept the recommendations of the Fourth Central Pay Commission in principle and set up an expert committee to suggest suitable pay-scales for the pay revision as there were about 54 pay-scales in existence in the State at that point of time, while the Fourth Central Pay Commission had recommended only 29 pay-scales for pay revision. 10. 2 accordingly, expert Committee headed by Honble Mr. Justice S. A. Shah, as His Lordship then was, suggested to follow the principle of scale to scale pay revision instead of post to post pay revision and the government had accepted the recommendations of the expert committee and accordingly pay-scales for the post of Surveyors was given from Rs. 425-700 to Rs. 1400-2300 under the Pay Revision Rules, 1987 with effect from 1. 1. 1986. 10. 3 it is contended in the affidavit-in-reply and the claim was opposed on the ground that the recruitment rules for the post of Surveyors in the subordinate services of Town Planning and Valuation Department and the recruitment rules for the post of Additional Assistant Engineers are different. In case of Surveyor, incumbent is required to possess [i] Diploma in Architecture or in Civil Engineering of a recognised University or Institution or its equivalent qualification recognised by the government, or [ii] a Bachelors degree in Arts, Geography, Sociology, Economics or Statistics or bachelors degree in Law of a recognised University or an Institution or a qualification equivalent thereto recognised by the government. Therefore, the qualification prescribed for Additional Assistant Engineers by way of direct selection only mentions about the incumbent having a Diploma in Civil Engineering of a University or Technical Examination Board or an Institution recognised by the Government of Gujarat or qualification equivalent thereto recognised by the Government of Gujarat and there is no place for a candidate having Bachelors degree in any of the disciplines other than Civil Engineering or equivalent qualification recognised by the government. According to the respondent, degree in Arts, Geography, Sociology, Economics, or Statistics or Law has no place in the matter of direct selection of Additional Assistant Engineers. 10. 4 the respondent-authority has also specifically pointed out different pay-scales given in other posts/cadres as per the educational qualification and the details thereof which are reproduced in the affidavit-in-reply are as under:-