Pay scales of Punjab Police personnel - Remove anomalies within 4 months: HC

Friday, 15/06/2012

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120615/punjab.htm#9

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has set up a four-month deadline for the State of Punjab to remove anomalies in the pay scales of Punjab Police personnel.

The significant directions came on a bunch of two petitions by Inspector Bakhshish Singh and other petitioners against the State of Punjab and other respondents.

Initially a petition was filed in 1991 by police personnel alleging the existence of anomalies in fixation of pay scales. The petitioners had claimed unjust denial of parity in scales with persons working in other departments.

They had claimed that the persons in other departments were performing lesser functions, but on higher scales.

The petitioners had sought that the pay of the inspectors in the police department should be fixed in the scale of Rs 2,000-3,500. For sub-inspectors, the pay scale should be of Rs 1,800-3,200. Again, for assistant sub-inspector, the pay scales should be Rs 1,500-2,640.

Subsequently, another petition was filed in the same year with additional issue that head constables should be fixed in pay scales of Rs 1,350-2,400 and constables in Rs 1,200-2,199.

The state, on the other hand, contented in its reply that any anomaly in the fixation of pay scales was a subject of consideration before expert bodies such as the pay commissions and the court should not entertain the writ petition to fix appropriate pay scales.

Taking up the petition, Justice K. Kannan asserted the limit of court interference for determination of pay scales was too well known to be restated. But, the government itself has stated that it had been contemplating to secure appropriate scales by putting it before the anomalies committee and the pay commission.

Justice Kannan added justice would be met if the state itself took an appropriate decision at its level. “The appropriate decision shall be taken to consider the issue of appropriate scales that could have been granted by assessing the scales in other departments which had like duties and if such a decision is to higher pay scale, the same shall be released to the petitioners.”

“The decision of the state shall be taken within a period of four months from receiving the order’s copy and communicated to the petitioners. The state shall be at liberty to call for representations from bodies of persons, who fall in various categories for whom the writ petitions had been filed and entrust it to any expert body for a decision.”

“It is most desirable that the decision does not brook any further delay since the State has allowed itself fairly a long time of more than two decades for the matter to drift without taking any definite decision as regards the same”.