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2011 DIGILAW 684 (DEL)

P. N. Shukla v. Union of India (UOI)

2011-07-15

DIPAK MISRA, SANJIV KHANNA

body2011
ORDER 1. 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. 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 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 Post-graduate 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. 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: 14. The ground that Dr. Behera is not performing medical duties is not correct. The mater regarding the interpretation of 'medical practice' has been clarified by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Ayush which is as under: As per Pharmacy Act and IMC Act, any work related to medical subject performed by a medical practitioner, whose essential qualification is Degree in medical science and registered with any State or Central Council shall be termed as medical practice. Since Dr. Behera is doing work on medical subject, he is covered under the term 'Medical practice' and is granted the scale thereof. 15. The ground that the Applicants are doing academic research in different fields including Assistant Scientific Officer (Medicine) and are performing same duties which are purely academic is not correct as the posts are not interchangeable. The Assistant Scientific Officer (Medicine) performs academic research in the field of Medicine and he is holding the post of Assistant Scientific Officer (Medicine) by virtue of his qualification. 16. The 6th Code of Code of Civil Procedure had invited representations from individuals and service associations and Dr. Bhimsen Behera had made a representation to the 6th Code of Code of Civil Procedure for the merger of the post of ASO (Medicine) with the CGHS cadre and change of designation. No wrongful depiction has been made to the Pay Commission as the Applicants have mentioned in the grounds. Though the upgradation of pay scale of Dr. Behera was made effective in December, 2006, the Applicants did not represent to the Pay Commission about their grievance with respect to Dr. Behera either individually or collectively. 17. The Administrative Ministry has never submitted that the functioning of Assistant Scientific Officer, Scientific Officer and Assistant Scientific Officer (Medicine) are same. (emphasis supplied) 6. Behera was made effective in December, 2006, the Applicants did not represent to the Pay Commission about their grievance with respect to Dr. Behera either individually or collectively. 17. The Administrative Ministry has never submitted that the functioning of Assistant Scientific Officer, Scientific Officer and Assistant Scientific Officer (Medicine) are same. (emphasis supplied) 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.