Allahabad High Court
Mohd. Nafees Uddin And Others vs State Of U.P. And Others on 4 February, 2020
Author: Yashwant Varma
Bench: Yashwant Varma
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 81 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 5160 of 2012 Petitioner :- Mohd. Nafees Uddin And Others Respondent :- State of U.P. and Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Shailendra,Chandan Sharma,U.N.Sharma Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Yashwant Varma,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Standing Counsel.
The petitioners who were Non-Medical Assistants engaged in the National Leprosy Control Programme (re-styled as the National Leprosy Eradication Programme) assail the order dated 11 August 2010 in terms of which the claim for remuneration at par with Basic Health Workers has come to be denied.
As per the case set forth in the writ petition, the Non-Medical Assistants who were engaged in the Leprosy Eradication Programme enjoyed the same pay scale as a Basic Health Worker initially and after 1972. It is asserted that although the petitioners discharge similar duties and functions, they have been denied the pay scale which is granted to Basic Health Workers. The Court notes that while passing the order impugned, the Competent Authority has returned a finding that the status, training and selection process of Basic Health Workers and Non-Medical Assistants is distinct and different. He therefore took the view that there is a valid and substantial distinction in the two categories of employees and consequently the prayer for parity is misconceived. Suffice it to note that this recital appearing in the impugned order is not challenged in the writ petition.
It has also come on the record that in terms of the recommendations made by the Central Sixth Pay Commission and those of the Samta Samiti formed at the level of the State Government, the petitioners here have been accorded parity with their counter parts in the Union Government. The Court notes that in order to sustain a prayer for equal pay for equal work, it was incumbent upon the petitioners to establish that not only the work, the educational qualifications, training curriculum was identical to those of Basic Health Workers and that even the nature of duties as assigned and discharged were the same. The prescription of a pay scale is essentially a matter for experts and lies in the province of the executive. Those decisions are liable to be interfered with only when palpable arbitrariness is established. The petitioners have failed to satisfy that test in the challenged raised.
The writ petition consequently stands dismissed.
Order Date :- 4.2.2020 Vivek Kr.