The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Monday directed the State government to revise the pay scale of Group ‘D’ employees in the Directorate of Health Services, which has been pending for more than eight years.
THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
The order by the Division Bench of Justice Makarand Karnik and Justice Nivedita Mehta further directed that arrears be paid within six months from January 1, 2016 till date.
The High Court upheld the claim of the petitioners that the minimum salary payable in their favour was Rs 7,000 with effect from the date of their appointment in view of recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.
However, at the time of their appointments, the government paid them Rs 5,740 salary comprising a pay scale of Rs 4440 to Rs 7440 with a Grade Pay of Rs 1,300 along with other admissible allowances.
The High Court accepted the claim of the 11 petitioners, who were represented by Advocate Shashikant Joshi and Swapna Joshi, that they were entitled to a pay scale of Rs 5400 to Rs 20,200 with Grade Pay of Rs 1,800 per month along with other admissible allowances.
The petitioners further stated that they were appointed in service in 2009 and 2010 and had accepted a lesser pay scale without any protest over the years.
They approached the High Court only in March 2023 challenging their pay scale. Considering these submissions, the High Court granted them arrears from January 1, 2016 along with pay fixation benefits under the seventh pay commission recommendations.
