Directs health department to disburse arrears
PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has directed the Health Department to revise the pay scale of 11 patient attendants and disburse arrears with effect from January 1, 2016, within six months.
The aggrieved 11 Patient Attendants had filed a Writ Petition in the High Court seeking enhancement of their pay with an increase in Basic Pay of Rs 4400 to 5200 and Grade Pay of Rs 1300 to 1800 from the date of their appointment along with arrears.
During earlier hearings, the petitioners’ counsels, Advocates Shashikant Joshi and Swapna Joshi the minimum salary payable to a government servant was Rs 7,000, comprising a basic pay of Rs 5,200 and a grade pay of Rs 1,800. However, the petitioners were allegedly given step-motherly treatment by the department, which fixed their basic pay at Rs 4,400 and grade pay at Rs 1,300 --much lesser than their counterparts at Goa Medical College who were granted the higher scale from the date of their appointment.
“The government could not discriminate between the patient attendants in Goa Medical College and the patient attendants in Health Services in the matter of pay fixation. Two Departments of the same Government cannot pay different pay scales for similar nature of work. This is a violation of Right to Equality and Equal Pay for Equal Work,” Joshi stated seeking a revision of the pay scale of the petitioners along with arrears.
Appearing for the government, advocate Manish Salkar alleged that the petitioners were not entitled to revision of the pay scale as they had approached the Court in 2023 despite having been appointed in Service in April 2010 and July 2012. He alleged that in view of the delay in approaching the Court, the Petitioners were not entitled to the benefits sought by them.
In its order, the Division Bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Nivedita Mehta directed that the petitioners be granted a notional benefit from the date of completion of training till December 31, 2015 with an increment of 3 per cent for every completed year of service. The Court also granted the benefit of arrears of salary from January 1, 2016 till date while partly allowing the petition.
