Ad Hoc Lecturer On Rs 8,000 Basic Pay Wins Parity With Pre-2008 Peers, With Benefits From Only 3 Years Before Her Petition, Gujarat HC Rules

The petitioner was appointed as an ad hoc Lecturer (Class II) on 28 January 2009.

She claimed that, although she performed work comparable to ad hoc Lecturers appointed before May 2008, she was paid only a basic salary of ₹8,000 and denied increments and other service benefits.

The State rejected her representations by communication dated 5 March 2021.

Relying on earlier decisions concerning parity between these groups of lecturers, she sought equivalent pay, increments, arrears and incidental benefits.

Under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, similarly situated employees performing comparable work cannot be treated differently without a relevant basis; ad hoc Lecturers appointed after May 2008 were therefore to be placed on par, for salary and incidental benefits, with those appointed before that date.

The Court applied Acharya Madhavi Bhavin v. State of Gujarat, which directed such parity, and Jain Soniya Rajeshkumar v. State of Gujarat, which followed that approach.

The Division Bench’s decision in Letters Patent Appeal No. 1184 of 2017 modified the relief by limiting benefits to the three years preceding the filing of the petition, relying on Shiv Dass in relation to arrears and on the equal-pay principles discussed in State of Punjab v. Jagjit Singh.

The petitioner belonged to the same class of post-May 2008 ad hoc Lecturers considered in the earlier proceedings, and the State did not dispute the applicability of Jain Soniya Rajeshkumar.

Applying the parity direction in Acharya Madhavi Bhavin, as modified by the Division Bench, the Court held that she was entitled to the same pay scale, annual increments and incidental benefits as pre-May 2008 ad hoc Lecturers.

The relief remained subject to the Division Bench’s limitation on the period for which benefits could be granted.

The respondents were directed to grant the petitioner pay and pay scale, annual increments and other incidental benefits at par with ad hoc Lecturers appointed before May 2008, in accordance with Acharya Madhavi Bhavin as modified in Letters Patent Appeal No. 1184 of 2017.

The rule was made absolute to that extent.