Service Law – Incentives – Grant of two advance increments on acquiring Ph.D. degree to Scientists in Agricultural Research Service – Employees working on the technical side in the Agricultural Research Service seeking the same benefit – Allowed by the tribunal and the High Court – Correctness: Held: Benefit of two advance increments for acquiring Ph.D. qualification was part of the pay package of the Scientists – Similar benefit was not extended to the technical personnel – For technical personnel, the appellants had adopted the revised scales as recommended by the Government of India for Central Government employees – Merely because Study Leave Regulations, 1991 were extended to technical personnel, would not entitle them to other benefits which are available to the scientists – Merely after having Ph.D. qualification, the technical personnel would not become eligible for grant of two advance increments when the same has not been recommended for them – In any institution incentives may be given to a particular category of employees to get higher qualifications during service, considering their job requirements – Merely because different set of employees, who may be working in aid but governed by different set of rules and having different duties to discharge also obtain that qualification, would not entitle them to the benefits which were extended to different set of employees by the competent authority – Art. 14 would not have any application – Tribunal and High Court erred by equating technical personnel and scientists and granting respondents advance increments to which they are not entitled to – Additional qualification merely makes them eligible for the higher post in the different cadre and not to grant them benefits, attached to the higher post in a different cadre – Impugned orders passed by the High Court and the tribunal set aside. [Paras 9, 10, 10.1, 10.2, 11]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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