AIIMS Staff’s Patient-Care Allowance Cut Stays On Hold As Tribunal Orders Centre To Review Eligibility Across Hospitals

The applicants—an AIIMS employees’ association and an AIIMS Junior Administrative Officer—challenged orders discontinuing Hospital Patient Care Allowance/Patient Care Allowance (HPCA/PCA), issued pursuant to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s Office Memorandum dated 21 April 2023.

They sought continuation of the allowances and relied, among other matters, on decisions of the Chandigarh Bench concerning the same O.M.

On 31 October 2025, the Tribunal stayed the operation of the discontinuation orders and the O.M. pending the O.A.

The respondents sought vacation of that interim order, relying on a coordinate Bench decision concerning ministerial staff, and the applicants also pursued contempt proceedings alleging non-compliance with the interim order

Entitlement to HPCA/PCA is governed by the applicable rules, policy instructions and eligibility criteria, including the prescribed Risk and Hardship Matrix. Neither ministerial status nor posting within a hospital is, by itself, conclusive; the relevant assessment includes the employee’s actual duties, work location and the nature and extent of contact with patients or potentially infected materials.

The Tribunal also considered that the Seventh Central Pay Commission recommendations, the Government’s decisions on those recommendations, relevant Cabinet-approved resolutions and subsequent executive instructions must be read together, and that relevant judicial decisions should be considered in light of their facts and operative directions.

The Tribunal considered the competing submissions and concluded that the allowance question involved a broader policy issue extending beyond the applicants’ individual claims.

Because eligibility depended on the governing instructions and the particular duties and exposure of employees, a blanket inclusion or exclusion based on cadre or hospital posting would not provide an adequate determination.

The Tribunal therefore did not decide whether these applicants were individually eligible or whether the challenged discontinuation orders were ultimately valid.

Instead, it directed the competent authority to examine the applicable policies, CPC recommendations, Risk and Hardship Matrix, judicial decisions, employee duties and financial implications, with stakeholder input.

The applicants may submit a representation within four weeks; the decision is to be made within twelve weeks of receipt of the representation.

The interim order of 31 October 2025 remains in force until that decision or further orders, whichever occurs first; the applications seeking its vacation and to place the coordinate Bench judgment on record were disposed of, as was the contempt petition, with liberty to seek appropriate remedies for any subsequent non-compliance.

The O.A. and pending miscellaneous applications were disposed of without an order as to costs.