Full Text
HIGH COURT OF DELHI
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 3791/2011 Dr. P.N. Shukla & Ors. ....Petitioners
Through Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, Advocate.
Through Mr.Saqib, Advocate for respondent 1.
Mr. Amitesh Kumar for respondent 2.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA
15.07.2011 Dr. P.N. Shukla and five others have filed the present writ petition assailing orders dated 1st June, 2010 and 3rd August, 2010 passed by the
Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (Tribunal, for short), dismissing their O.A. No. 1762/2010 and Review Application
No. 203/2010.
ORDER
2. The petitioners herein are working as Assistant Scientific Officers in the Commission for Scientific & Technical Terminology. The dispute does not pertain to their posts or their pay-scale. The dispute also does 2011:DHC:3540-DB not pertain to the service conditions as applicable to them. The grievance raised by the petitioners is that Dr. Bhim Sen Behere, respondent No. 4 herein, Assistant Scientific Officer (Medicine) has been wrongly given designation and declared as an ex-cadre post and granted upgradation of pay-scale to Rs.8000-13500 (pre-revised) whereas the pay-scale of the petitioners is Rs.7500-12000 (pre-revised).
3. In the impugned order dated 1st June, 2010, Tribunal has noticed that this was a third round of litigation by the petitioners. Representation given by the petitioners was rejected by the respondent No. 2, Chairman, Commission for Scientific & Technical Terminology by order dated 4th January, 2010. The said order has examined the contentions of the petitioners in detail but rejected the same for various reasons.
4. Assistant Scientific Officers (Research Assistants) are recruited on the basis of single recruitment rules in different subjects. However, essential qualifications prescribed in the recruitment rules are different i.e. Diploma (for engineering), Master’s degree in Hindi with Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism (for Journalism) and Post Graduate Diploma in Management (for Management) and Post-graduate Degree (for other subjects). For the post of Assistant Scientific Officer (Medicine), a degree is required. Each Assistant Scientific Officer is required to perform duties in their respective fields.
5. 5th Pay Commission had observed that the post of Research Assistant should be re-designated as Assistant Scientific Officer and upgraded from pay-scale of 1640-2900 to 2000-3500, keeping in view the nature of their work and the fact that their recruitment qualification is a Post-graduate degree. As noticed above, the said recommendation was factually incorrect as in some cases Post-graduate degree is not prescribed. Respondent No. 4, Dr. Bhim Sen Behere is holding a Degree of ISM&H. He applied for said scale and the same was approved by the Department of Expenditure. None of the petitioners hold the same degree. Further, the 6th Pay Commission had noted the upgradation of pay-scale of respondent No. 4. Degree-holders of ISM&H are enrolled as registered medical practitioners in the State or Central Board. In the order dated 4th January, 2010, it has been held as under:-
6. It was in view of the aforesaid reason that the Tribunal dismissed the Original Petition by impugned order dated 1st June, 2010. We have also examined the reasoning given in the order dated 4th January, 2010 and the findings recorded by the Tribunal. We are in agreement with the said findings. Accordingly, we do not find any merit in the writ petition and the same is dismissed.
(SANJIV KHANNA) JUDGE ( DIPAK MISRA )