In Brief
The Kerala Water Authority created an intermediate post of Senior Operator during its third pay revision in 1999, which caused the pay scale of Head Operators to be raised to the level of Mechanical Superintendents. A High Court Single Judge held that creating this intermediate post required an amendment to the statutory rules, not merely an administrative order. The State then abolished the post by Government Order and restored Head Operator pay scales to their original equivalent revised scale. The Supreme Court upheld this decision, holding that the higher pay scale had been occasioned solely by the now-invalid intermediate post's creation, and no recoveries would be made from amounts already disbursed."
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