Withdrawal Of Personal/Promotional Pay Scale Benefit: SC Dismisses Ayurvedic Medical Officers' Plea Against Recovery Orders
The Supreme Court dismissed Ayurvedic Medical Officers' plea against recovery orders passed against them after withdrawing the benefit of personal/promotional pay scale.
The benefit of a personal/promotional pay scale was granted to the appellants by the State of Uttarakhand. The said benefit was withdrawn under a subsequent decision of the State government. The question for consideration was whether the benefits can be recovered from the appellants who have superannuated.
Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal observed “the benefit of personal/promotional pay scale was granted only on Ayurvedic Medical Officers upon completing 8 and 14 years of service. The said order was contrary to the order of the Finance Department and, therefore, was rightly withdrawn as we have held earlier. We may note here that by the order dated 8th November 2006, the personal time-bound pay scale was granted to the appellants, subject to the condition that if the Government takes any decision to the contrary, the amount will be recovered from the salary of the concerned medical officers.”
Senior Advocate P.S. Patwalia represented the appellant, while AOR Vishwa Pal Singh appeared for the respondents.
The Court held that the Government Order granted personal/promotional pay scales to Ayurvedic Medical Officers after 8 and 14 years was later recalled by the State Cabinet. The Court found no error in this decision to cancel the Order, as it was inconsistent with the Finance Department's directives applicable to all state service cadres.
The Court upheld the State Government's view and noted that “We find no error in the view taken by the State Government as there was no valid reason to grant a higher pay scale only to the Ayurvedic and Unani Medical Officers after continuous satisfactory service of 8 years, whereas, for all other Government servants, satisfactory continuous service of 10 years was required.”
Despite this, the State Government granted higher pay scales to the appellants. A subsequent recovery order aimed to recover amounts paid to the appellants, acknowledging the revival of earlier orders granting personal/promotional pay scales and entitlement to ACP benefits.
The Court agreed with the view taken by the High Court by not setting aside the order of recovery on the ground that “the appellants, being Ayurvedic Medical Officers, do not belong to a weaker section of the society and, therefore, recovery will not be inequitable.”
The Court did not interfere with the view taken by the High Court and held that “In the facts of the case in hand, what stares at the face is that the benefits granted only to the Ayurvedic and Unani Medical Officers under the Order dated 4th August 2011 were not extended to any other category of the State Government employees. No material was brought on record to show how and why favourable treatment was given to the appellants.”
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals.
Cause Title: Dr. Balbir Singh Bhandari v. The State of Uttarakhand & Ors. (2024 INSC 29)
Appearance:
Appellant: Senior Advocate P.S. Patwalia, AOR Manan Verma and Jatinder Kumar Bhatia, Advocates Ankit Shah, Krishnam Mishra and Param Kumar Mishra
Respondents: AOR Vishwa Pal Singh, Advocates Sanat Kumar, Vikas Negi, Mahesh Dutt Shukla, Adesh Kumar Gill, Prateek Rai, Chanchal, Mukesh Kumar, Ashish Pandey, Ashutosh Bhardwaj, Shaifali Singh, and Akash