101 AIIMS Radiology Employees Win Pay Revision: CAT Orders ₹4,600 Grade Pay For Technician Grade-II From 2006 And Corrects Promotional-Scale Anomalies

The applicants, employees in the Radiology cadre at AIIMS, New Delhi, challenged a memorandum dated 12 May 2021 rejecting their request for revision of pay scales.

They claimed that Radiographers—designated Radiology Technician Grade-II at AIIMS—were entitled to Grade Pay of ₹4,600 under the Sixth Central Pay Commission, and that equal Grade Pay for feeder and promotional posts created an anomaly.

In an earlier proceeding, OA No. 421/2021, the Tribunal had directed the respondents to consider the applicants’ representation and issue a reasoned decision; the impugned memorandum followed that direction.

The respondents maintained that the matter was under consideration, disputed the applicants’ reliance on committee material and other institutions’ pay structures, and objected that the OA was premature for non-exhaustion of remedies under Section 20 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.

The Tribunal relied on the constitutional guarantees of equality and equal opportunity in Articles 14 and 16, holding that denying comparable pay benefits to AIIMS Radiology employees, while such benefits had been extended to the corresponding cadre at PGIMER, Chandigarh, was irrational and discriminatory.

It also relied on the Sixth Central Pay Commission recommendations concerning the Radiology cadre and the respondents’ acknowledged pay anomaly between feeder and promotional posts.

The applicants cited Amar Chand & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. and Sabu Thomas & Ors. v. Union of India & Anr., concerning pay-scale treatment of radiographers and alleged discrimination; the judgment records that reliance but does not set out a distinct test or detailed application of those decisions.

The respondents’ objection under Section 20 of the Administrative Tribunals Act was noted, but the Tribunal did not separately analyse it before allowing the OA.

The Tribunal treated the pay anomaly as established by AIIMS’s acknowledgment that feeder and promotional posts carried identical Grade Pay and noted that the proposed cadre review had remained unresolved through successive committees.

It considered PGIMER, Chandigarh, a sister institution whose Radiology cadre had received higher pay scales under the Sixth Pay Commission, and found the different treatment of AIIMS employees irrational, arbitrary and contrary to Articles 14 and 16.

Concluding that further committee deliberations had not resolved the long-pending grievance, it set aside the memorandum and ordered pay revision.

The Tribunal quashed and set aside the memorandum dated 12 May 2021 and directed the respondents to grant Radiographer/Radiology Technician Grade-II Grade Pay of ₹4,600 from 1 January 2006, with the corresponding subsequent pay scales for the specified promotional posts and rectification of the feeder/promotional-post anomaly.

It further directed that the applicants receive the benefits associated with the merged Radiology Technician cadre from 26 September 2016, with arrears to be paid within three months of receipt of a certified copy of the order.

No costs were awarded.