Allahabad HC Orders Minimum Pay At Par With Regular Employees For IV Class Contractual Employees Working Since 2005

The Allahabad High Court recently directed the Uttar Pradesh Government to grant a minimum pay (at par with regular employees) to 4 IVth class contractual employees who are working with U.P. State Legal Services Authority since 2005.

This order came from the bench of Justice Alok Mathur which relied upon the Supreme Court's ruling in the case of State of Punjab Vs. Jagjeet Singh (2017) 1 SCC 148 where it was observed that the employees, who are continuously discharging duties commensurate with regularly appointed persons, are also entitled to be paid the same wages in accordance with the provisions of 'equal pay for equal work'.

"...the petitioners have been working for a substantially longer length of time and are getting only Rs.7500/- per month which admittedly is below the minimum wages fixed by the State Government and accordingly, this Court is of the considered view that the petitioners are also entitled to being granted a minimum of pay scale as is being granted to regular employees as the same services are being rendered by them," the court observed in its order.

Essentially, the Court was dealing with a writ plea moved by 4 contractual employees attached to the High Court Legal Services Sub Committee, Lucknow and who were appointed to the posts of Peon and Clerk in the year 2005. They were being made a sum of Rs. 5K per month, recently, the amount was increased to Rs. 7.5K.

Earlier, the petitioners had moved to the High Court in 2015 seeking a direction to the Government to increase their pay, however, the same was disposed of by the High Court in 2018 directing the respondents to decide the representation of the petitioner.

The said representation was dismissed by the authorities and even, their case was not considered for a grant of a minimum of the pay scale, therefore, the petitioners moved to the High Court with the instant plea seeking a grant of a minimum of the pay scale.

However, relying upon the decision of the Apex Court in the case of State of Punjab v. Jagjeet Singh, and considering the fact that the petitioners have been working for a substantially longer length of time and are getting only Rs.7500/- per month, the Court directed the state government to pass fresh orders granting a minimum of the pay scale to the petitioners, within four weeks.

Case title - Sukh Vir Singh And Ors. v. State Of U.P. Thru Prin. Secy. Law And Legal Remembrancer And ors [WRIT - A No. - 2516 of 2019]

Case title - 2022 LiveLaw (AB) 504

Click here to Read/Download Order