Central Administrative Tribunal - Delhi
Sukhbir Singh vs South Delhi Municipal Corporation on 19 November, 2014
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH
OA 3127/2012
MA 2531/2012
New Delhi this the 19th day of November, 2014
Honble Mr. V. Ajay Kumar, Member (J)
Honble Mr. P.K. Basu, Member (A)
1. Sukhbir Singh
S/o Late Shri Bhim Singh
Working as PHI, SDMC, Health Department
Central Zone, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi
R/o 450, Tikri Kalan
New Delhi-110043
2. Satya Prakash Saraswat
S/o Shri Charan Lal Sharma
Working as PHI, SDMC, Health Department
Central Zone, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi
R/o B-65, Sadatpur Extn.,
Delhi-110092
3. Dharam Singh
S/o Shri Rai Singh
Working as PHI, SDMC, Health Department
Central Zone, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi
R/o Village & P.O. Bijwasan,
New Delhi-110061 Applicants
(Through Shri Shyam Moorjani with Shri Majeet Singh Reen, Advocates)
Versus
1. South Delhi Municipal Corporation
Through its Commissioner
Civic Centre, Asaf Ali Road
New Delhi
2. Municipal Health Officer
South Delhi Municipal Corporation
Civic Centre, Asaf Ali Road,
New Delhi
3. Dy. Health Officer
South Delhi Municipal Corporation
Central Zone, Lajpat Nagar,
New Delhi Respondents
(Through Shri R.K. Jain, Advocate)
ORDER
Mr. P.K. Basu, Member (A) The applicants were initially appointed as Vaccinator and vide office order dated 7.12.2001, were later re-designated as Public Health Inspector (PHI). The respondent-Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) vide office order dated 31.05.2005, revised the pay scales of supervisory staff as per 5th Pay Commission recommendations with effect from 1.01.1996 and the pay scale of PHI was revised to Rs.5000-8000. The applicants received the pay scale of Rs.5000-8000 along with all the benefits in terms of office order dated 31.05.2005 till March 2012. The respondents reduced the pay of the applicants without giving any Show Cause Notice (SCN) and continued to grant lesser pay to the applicants from April 2012 onwards. The applicants made representations. Their grouse is that despite giving representations, the respondents have been continuing to deduct the pay from their salary and have been granting lesser pay to them without looking into their grievances. The reliefs sought by the applicants are as follows:
8.A) To issue appropriate order for setting aside the impugned action of the respondents illegally reducing the basis pay and other emoluments/ making deductions w.e.f. April 2012 onwards from the salary of the applicants (Anneuxre A-1 (colly) declaring the same as illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory;
B) Issue appropriate order/directions to the respondents to restore back the salary of the applicants along with all the emoluments as has been drawn by the applicants prior to the said reduction with all consequential benefits and direct the respondents to refund the deductions/ recovery made from the applicants illeglaly.
2. The grounds for seeking such reliefs are as follows:
(a) That the respondents have acted in illegal and arbitrary manner and in violation of the principles of natural justice, equity and fair play as no opportunity of hearing was given to the applicants before the said illegal action was taken by the respondents; and
(b) Once the respondents have taken a conscious decision to grant the benefit, they cannot now take this illegal action by reducing their pay.
3. The brief facts of the case are that the Vaccinators, like the applicants, were working in small pox eradication scheme and their pay scale was Rs.260-430/- (IIIrd Pay Commission). After eradication of small pox in the year 1977, they were assigned the work of inoculation against cholera besides registration of birth and death. Another group of employees called Inoculators were also doing inoculation against cholera, but their pay scale was Rs.330-560/-. Aggrieved by the same, the vaccinators filed I.D. No.253 of 1983 in Industrial Tribunal praying same pay for same work. The Tribunal decided in the favour of Vaccinators and this award was implemented vide office order No.Epid/92/380 dated 25.03.1992 and the pay scale of the Vaccinators was revised to Rs.330-560/- with effect from 23.05.1981 provisionally i.e. from the date of filing I.D. The pay scale of Vaccination Inspectors was also Rs.330-560/- + C.A. Later on, appointment on the post of Vaccinators was made in the year 1992 and 1998-99 in the corresponding pay scale of Rs.260-430/-. Thus there became two groups among the Vaccinators, one in the pay scale of Rs.330-560 (Rs.4000-6000/- in the 5th Pay Commission) and another in the pay scale of Rs.260-430/- (Rs.3050-4590/- in the 5th Pay Commission).
4. In the year 2001, the nomenclature of the vaccination and public health staff was changed. The Health Inspectors, Vaccination Inspectors and Vaccinators in the pay scale of Rs.4000-6000/- were designated as PHI, whereas those Vaccinators in the pay scale of Rs.3050-4590 were designated as APHI.
5. In the year 2005, a resolution no. 84 dated 28.04.2005 was passed by Corporation to equate the pay scale of Health & Malaria Staff with the Sanitation Staff w.e.f. 1973 and O.O. No. ADC (Health)/2005/3260 dated 31.05.2005 was issued. As per this order, the pay scale of APHI & PHI became as mentioned below:
Pay Commission Pay Scale of Vaccinator Insp/PHI Pay Scale of Vaccinator/APHI 3rd Pay Commission Rs.425-640 Rs.330-560 4th Pay Commission Rs.1400-2600 Rs.1200-2040 5th Pay Commission Rs.5000-8000 Rs.4000-6000
6. The applicants also drew our attention to order of this Tribunal in OA 1047/2012 with OA 806/2013 in the case of Yashpal Singh Vs. South Delhi Municipal Corporation and another. The said OAs were allowed and the respondents were directed to pay the terminal benefits of the applicants with reference to the last pay drawn and in the scale of PHI i.e. Rs.9300-34800 with Grade Pay of Rs.4200/- (old scale Rs.5000-8000). Therefore, the applicants claim that they should also be given the same scale as in the case of Yashpal Singh and that their pay cannot be reduced.
7. The learned counsel for the applicants also cited the judgment of the Honble High Court of Delhi in W.P. (C) 2259/2012, Sh. Narendra and ors. Vs. Municipal Corporation of Delhi, in which the applicants had been employed as Vaccinators in the pay scale of Rs.260-430. Their demand was that the Industrial Tribunal had already given an award on 23.09.1988 that the Vaccinators/ Immunisers be placed in the pay scale of Rs.330-560, which was the pay scale of Inoculators. The Honble High Court in its order dated 31.10.2014 directed the respondents to designate the petitioners/ applicants as PHIs in the pay scale of Rs.5000-8000 with all benefits of arrears of pay and allowances, on parity with that enjoyed by the other Vaccinators who had that benefit.
8. The respondents case is that Industrial Tribunals award was available to those Vaccinators appointed upto 1977 and since the applicants came after 1982 and were wrongly given the designation of PHI and pay scale, they now seek to rectify their mistake by reducing the applicants pay. It was pointed out that in Yashpal Singhs case, the appellants therein had undergone training meant for Vaccinators, as would be evident from the following portion of the order:
9. Mr. Jain also submitted that the Department has no record available with it to arrive at a definite conclusion to the effect that whether the present applicants have undergone the training meant for Vaccinators to train them to do the job of Inoculators or not. In the absence of relevant records, we are unable to accept the bald action taken by the respondents in not fixing the terminal benefits of the applicants with reference to last pay drawn by them. It is not the case of the respondents that the House did not pass Resolution (ibid) and in implementation of the said Resolution, office order dated 31.5.2005 was not passed. It is also not in dispute that way back in the year 1992 after the Award of the Labour Court, the pay of the applicants was fixed in the pay scale of Rs.330-560. Once the pay of the applicants was fixed at the level at which the pay of Inoculators or Vaccinators who had undergone the training of Inoculators was fixed, there is presumption that the applicants were treated at par with Inoculators and were subsequently re-designated as PHI in the year 2001. whereas the applicants who came after 1982, were not trained and, therefore, they were treated as a separate category as APHI and given a lower pay scale of Rs.4000-6000. Therefore, according to respondents, the judgment of the C.A.T. in Yashpal Singhs case (supra) will not be applicable in the present case.
9. On the issue whether the applicants were trained or not, the applicants pointed out that nowhere in their counter affidavit have the respondents stated that the applicants had not undergone training.
10. We have heard both the learned counsel and perused the judgments cited by either side.
11. In our view, the matter has now been finally settled by the Honble High Court in Shri Narendras case (supra) as after having gone into detail, the Honble High Court held that the respondents classification of Vaccinators into PHIs and APHIs, with different pay scales, is illegal and arbitrary and directed the respondents to grant the pay scale of Rs.5000-8000 to the applicants in that case as given to the PHIs.
12. In view of the above judgment of the Honble High Court, there is no further dispute left in the matter. The OA is allowed with the direction that the respondents shall restore the pay scale of the applicants to the original pay scale i.e. that of PHI and refund the amount deducted from their salary from April, 2012 onwards. It goes without saying that all consequential benefits arising out of the restoration of pay scale of PHI to the applicants, will be given to them. This exercise shall be completed within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No costs.
( P.K. Basu ) ( V. Ajay Kumar ) Member (A) Member (J) /dkm/