Service Law: Pay scale – Entitlement to – Principle of equal pay for equal work – Appellants appointed as Shikha Karmis under the 1998 Rules, claiming parity in pay scales with that of the employees of the Municipality/Municipal teachers appointed under the 1968 Rules – Held: Shiksha Karmis and Municipal Teachers are appointed under different rules and there are different methods of selection and recruitment, thus, parity in pay scale cannot be claimed – Shiksha Karmis, governed by the 1998 Rules entitled to pay-scales under the 1998 Rules only – Chhattisgarh Municipalities Shiksha Karmis (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1998 – Municipal Employees (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1968.
Dismissing the appeal, the Court
HELD: On a fair reading of Rule 7 of the Chhattisgarh Municipalities Shiksha Karmis (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1998, it is clear that on completion of the probation period, the Shiksha Karmis shall be confirmed as Shiksha Karmis only and they shall be put in the regular pay-scale of the Municipality as Shiksha Karmis and not as the Municipal teachers. Municipal teachers are appointed under the Municipal Employees (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1968. As per Rule 4 of the 1998 Rules, Shiksha Karmis shall have to be paid the scales of pay as given in the Schedule I to the said Rules. The respective Shiksha Karmis are paid the pay-scales as per Schedule I of Rule 4. Therefore, when the Municipal teachers and the Shiksha Karmis are appointed under different Rules and there are different methods of selection and recruitment, a Shiksha Karmi cannot claim parity in pay-scale with that of Municipal teachers on the principle of equal pay for equal work. Thus, Shiksha Karmis, who are governed by the Shiksha Karmis Rules, 1998 under which they were appointed, are entitled to pay-scales under the Shiksha Karmis Rules, 1998 only, which are being paid to them. There is no error committed either by the Single Judge or by the Division Bench of the High Court in refusing to grant the pay-scales of Municipal teachers to the appellants. [Paras 7 and 8][723-G-H; 724-A-C]
State of Haryana and Ors. v. Charanjit Singh and Ors. (2006) 9 SCC 321 : [2005] 4 Suppl. SCR 57 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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