Chief Artificers & Artificers May Be Equivalent In Seniority To Chief Petty Officers; But Chief Artificers Hold Command Over Them: SC

The Court was hearing a Civil Appeal that took exception to the judgment and order of the Armed Forces Tribunal.

The bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed, “for the purposes of seniority, Chief Artificers and Artificers of rank III to I may be equivalent to Chief Petty Officer. But, the Chief Artificer has command over Artificers of III, II and I grade.”

Brief Facts-

The Appellant, an Artificer III in the Indian Navy, challenged a pay discrepancy following the implementation of the 6th Central Pay Commission. Artificers, classified under the technical "X group," were placed in Pay Band-2, but those in ranks I, II, and III were given a lower grade pay of Rs.3400, unlike others in the S-9 pay scale category, who received Rs.4200. The Appellant filed a Writ Petition, and the Bombay High Court directed the government to review the issue. However, the Ministry of Defence rejected the Appellant's representation. The Appellant's challenge to the decision was dismissed by the Tribunal, and a Review Petition was also rejected.

The Court referred to Navy Order 100/67 which according to the Court deals with the seniority of Artificers vis-a-vis non-Artificers. The Court said, “It records that Artificers of Class III and above are Chief Petty Officers and will rank and command with Chief Petty Officers of the other branches depending upon their seniority as Chief Petty Officers. Thus, this rank has been given only for the purposes of seniority vis-a-vis non-Artificers.”

The Court noted, “the Artificers of Grade IV are equivalent to Petty Officers. Only the Chief Artificer is entitled to promotion to the post of Master Chief Artificer. Artificers of grades I, II and III are not entitled to seek promotion to the post of Master Chief Artificer. The Artificers of class III are entitled to be promoted to the posts of Chief Artificers. Therefore, for the purposes of the pay band, the Chief Artificers in ‘X Group’ and Chief Petty Officer in ‘Y Group’ are treated as equivalent.”

The Court further noted, “the promotional avenue available to Chief Artificer is of Master Chief Artificer-II. The Chief Petty Officer has a promotional avenue to the post of Master Chief (PO) – II. Master Chief Artificer -II and Master Chief (PO) -II have been given the same grade pay of Rs.4600. For the purposes of grade pay, Artificers of grades I, II and III are placed between Artificers of grade IV and Chief Artificer. Though for the purposes of seniority, Artificers in grades III may be Chief Petty officers, they cannot seek promotion directly to the post of Master Chief Artificers. They can seek promotion to the post of Chief Artificer.”

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the Civil Appeals.