Employees Selected In Same Recruitment Process Can't Be Given Different Pay Based On Joining Date: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court has held that candidates who have been selected, appointed and joined their services in the same recruitment process cannot be discriminated in the matter of pay fixation, merely on the basis of joining dates.The bench of Justice Chandra Shekhar Sharma was hearing petitions filed by school lecturers alleging that the State was discriminating in the pay scale of employees recruited in the same recruitment process on the ground that some had joined before the cut-off date and others joined later to that cut-off date.It was the case of the petitioners that pursuant to the selection, authorities had issued different appointment orders, having different cut-off dates, with the last cut-off date being July 10, 2017. The petitioners joined after the cut-off dates in their respective appointment orders, however prior to the last cut-off date. However, the lecturers who joined their services prior to June 30, 2017 were granted one additional annual grade increment, as compared to the petitioners who joined after June 30, 2017, who were granted one annual grade increment lesser than the prior group. Such unequal pay fixation for employees recruited in the same recruitment process was challenged before the Court as discriminatory and violative of Article 14. After hearing the contentions, the Court aligned with the arguments of the petitioners. It was opined,“The procedure adopted by the respondents is contrary to the established principles of service jurisprudence. The candidates who have been selected, appointed and joined their services in the same recruitment process pursuant to the very same advertisement on the same post of School Lecturers but their appointment order were issued on different dates and they joined their services prior to 30.06.2017 and subsequent to 30.06.2017 but before the last cut-off date for joining i.e. 10.07.2017, they cannot be discriminated in the matter of fixation of pay.”It added that the respondents should have adopted either the first date of joining or the last date of joining with regard to the same recruitment process so as to extend the benefit of annual grant of grade increments. "They cannot adopt two different dates of joining for extending the benefit of annual grade increments among the candidates in the same recruitment process," it said.The Court also rejected the State's reliance of a circular issued by the Department of Finance dated September 30, 2017, as a justification for their action, and held that even if such discrimination was based on the circular, it was unsustainable, for being violative of Article 14.Accordingly, State's actions were held to be illegal and unsustainable. It was directed that any anomaly that arose due to adoption of such improper dates of joining for granting one annual grade increment had to be rationalized and corrected, within one month. Title: Shrutika Chauhan & Anr. v State of Rajasthan & Anr. Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 89Click Here To Read/Download Order

Employees Selected In Same Recruitment Process Can't Be Given Different Pay Based On Joining Date: Rajasthan High Court

Nupur Agrawal

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