Ayurvedic Doctors Entitled To Be Paid Salary At Par With Allopathic Doctors Under NHM Scheme: Gauhati High Court

The Gauhati High Court has directed the state government to pay and release the salary to the contractual Ayurvedic doctors at par with the contractual Allopathic Medical Officers of the NHM [National Health Mission], Assam with retrospective effect from December 18, 2018.

The bench of Justice Michael Zothankhuma ordered thus as it took into account the order of the Uttarakhand High Court and the Supreme Court's recent order upholding the same to reach this conclusion that the Ayurvedic doctors would have to be treated at par with the Allopathic Medical Officers and Dental Medical Officers under the NHM.

The case in brief

Essentially, the Ayurvedic Doctors' Association and two others had moved to the HC by way of filing a plea advancing their grievance that while the NHM [National Health Mission] has engaged Allopathic and Ayurvedic doctors under the NHM scheme on a contract basis, the fixed pay given to the Allopathic doctors is higher than that given to the Ayurvedic doctors.

It may be noted that in the year 2015, the Union Government had launched the National Rural Health Mission ("NRHM"), which is a sub-mission of the National Health Mission ("NHM"), to provide accessible, affordable, and quality health care to the rural population.

The petitioners' counsel argued that as the job responsibility of the Medical Officers (Ayurvedic) under the NHM is identical to that of the job responsibility of the Medical Officers (Allopathic), the fixed pay given to the Medical Officers (Ayurvedic) would have to be the same.

The petitioners' counsel further submitted that with respect to doctors employed by the State Government on regular basis, be it, Allopathic doctors or Ayurvedic doctors, the same pay scale is being given to them.

Court's observations

At the outset, the Court noted that the Allopathic doctors and Ayurvedic doctors, who are working in the Health Department under the Government of Assam as regular employees, are being given the same pay scale.

However, the Court further noted, that for the Allopathic doctors working under the NHM, Assam on a contract basis are being paid a fixed salary of Rs.50,000/- per month, while the Ayurvedic doctors are being paid a fixed salary of Rs.30,500/-, with some increments. 

Against this backdrop, the Court noted that there exists a pay disparity between the contractual Allopathid Doctors and Contractual Ayurvedic doctors working under the NHM, Assam.

Further, the Court took into account the Uttarakhand HC's order in the case of Dr. Sanjay Singh Chauhan and others v. State of Uttarakhand and others, wherein it was held that under the NRHM/NHM Scheme, Ayurvedic Doctors will be entitled to parity in salary with Allopathic Medical Officers and Dental Medical Officers.

The Court also observed that this order was upheld by the Supreme court in the case of State of Uttarakhand And Ors. v. Sanjay Singh Chauhan And Ors. 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 320

"A perusal of the order of the Division Bench of the Uttarakhand High Court passed in WP No.484/2014 (S/B) and the order dated 24.03.2022 passed by the Apex Court in Special Leave to Appeal (C) No.33645/2018 show that Ayurvedic doctors would have to be treated at par with the Allopathic Medical Officers and Dental Medical Officers under the NHM and as such, there cannot be any discrimination in the payment of salary/wages between the two. This is further fortified by the fact that the State respondents have taken a conscious decision to give the same scale of pay to the Ayurvedic doctors and Allopathic doctors working in the Health Department, under the Government of Assam," the Court held as it directed the respondents to pay and release the salary to the petitioners at par with the Allopathic Medical Officers of the NHM, Assam w.e.f. the date of filing of the writ petition, i.e. 18.12.2018.

Case title - THE AYURVEDIC DOCTORS ASSOCIATION AND 2 ORS v. THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 4 ORS.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Gau) 22

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