Sanjai Singh (JTO) 12 June 2013

Basic pay for 2007 and 2008 batches not fixed properly

Dear Sir,

I am working in central PSU; I have joined it in May, 2010 against 2008 batch vacancies. The advertisement was done at 9850/- (to be revised upwards) starting basic with 3% annual increment. Later they provided us 16400/- starting basic on E1 scale which was a degradation of scale, as 9850/- was between 8600 (E1) and 10750(E2).

I am telling you the whole story from starting.

According to 2nd PRC, they have to fix the pay after fitment and DA merging. They did the same in case of the employees joined before 1.1.2007 and fixed the starting basic as 9850*1.688*1.3=21620/- (68.8 percent DA merging and 30 percent fitment). That is now going to grow again to 9850*1.782*1.3=22820/- as now the 78.2 percent DA merging has been considered by the board.

And for us i.e. the batches 2007 (joined in 2009) and 2008 (joined in 2010), they fixed pre revised 9850/- starting basic (E1A) in the new revised basic as 18850/- saying it E1 A (neither E1 nor E2) and sent it for approval to Department of PSE. It rejected the same scale saying that the intermediary scales are not allowed. So, till the finalization of the scales they fixed us in the E1 scale (degradation of pay scale) at 16400/- saying that the scales will be finalize soon. But till now no scale has been finalized and we are still in the same scale at 16400-40500. In the mean time we filed a case against them for “equal cadre equal pay” as the 2005 batch recruited in the year 2006 getting higher starting basic of 21620/-, currently it should be only some annual increments (3 or 4) higher than that of us. Consequently, the company provided us 5 advance increments leading our starting basic to 19020/- which is still 2600 less than that of 2005 batch. But we lost the case in PCAT, New Delhi and still lingering on the same starting basic of 19020/-

And since their (2005 and earlier batches) starting basic is going to be revise again to 22820/- we will be in huge pay loss of approx 9000/- pm including PF contribution from the company.

1. Now, I want to know whether we are eligible for fitment or not?

2. If not, is it appropriate to fix the different starting basic for different year recruitments for same cadre?

3. What is the method to avoid the pay loss for our case?

4. As the pay commission is set up for the analysis of the present financial condition of the state and revision of the salary status of the employees for better survival, is this better survival is entitled to older employees only?

Please reply to the above queries, so that we can take further step to protect our pay.

I shall be highly thankful.

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2 Replies

Sonia Dhamija (Advocate) 12 June 2013

Did you challenge the decision of PCAT in the High Court? Do you mean "Principal Bench of CAT" when you say PCAT?

Usually when the pay scales are revised, old pay scales are equated with new pay scales, after taking into account various factors such as fitment. If two or more old pay scales are merging in a single new pay scale, then also it is indicated as to which old pay scale corresponds to which new pay scale (and, in such a case, usually, an old pay scale is always equated with the better new pay scale). From the descripttion given by you, it appears as if the salary of individual officers has been fixed by giving fitmet and as if they continue to draw salary in the old pay scale (though with fitmet, etc.). There appears to be something missing in what you have written. One needs to see the the report of the 2nd PRC to see which old pay scale is equated with which new pay scale. Other relevant provisions in the PRC report are also required to be seen. In the absence of full facts, it becomes difficult to give an opinion. However, from what you have written, there clearly appears to be (at least) a case of violation of the right to equality and a case of discrimination. I think it should be possible to successfully challenge this discrimination, subject to detailed perusal of the relevant documents.