CAT Quashes Lab Assistant’s Pay Cut For Lack Of Hearing, Bars Recovery Pending Fresh Decision

The applicant, a Laboratory Assistant at the National Institute of Nutrition, had his pay stepped up in 2019 to address an alleged pay anomaly with junior employees.

By Office Order dated 21 October 2024, the respondents retrospectively re-fixed his pay at a lower amount and proposed recovery of the alleged excess, without first issuing a show-cause notice or hearing him.

The applicant challenged that order before the Tribunal.

The respondents maintained that the stepping-up benefit was not available under the applicable promotion scheme and that the pay had been reviewed following clarification concerning another employee.

Rule 7(10)(i) of the CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 permits stepping up of a senior employee’s pay to match a junior’s, subject to specified conditions, including that the employees belong to the same cadre, the promoted posts and applicable pay structures are identical, and the anomaly results directly from pay fixation under the relevant rules; clause (ii) provides for an order under Fundamental Rule 27.

The principles of natural justice require that an employee be given prior notice and an opportunity to respond before an adverse pay-fixation decision, particularly one involving recovery, is made.

The Tribunal found that the respondents had re-fixed the applicant’s pay to his disadvantage and proposed recovery without issuing a show-cause notice or affording him an opportunity to explain his position.

That procedure failed to comply with natural justice and rendered the impugned order unsustainable.

Although the Tribunal set out Rule 7(10)(i), it expressly did not determine whether the applicant met the rule’s conditions or was otherwise entitled to the stepping-up benefit; those matters were left for the competent authority to decide after hearing him.

It directed the respondents to issue a show-cause notice within 30 days of receiving a certified copy of the order; the applicant may respond within 15 days of receiving the notice.

The competent authority must consider the representation, provide a personal hearing, and issue a reasoned order in accordance with law.

No recovery may be made under the impugned order pending that decision.

The Tribunal clarified that it had not decided the merits of the pay-fixation dispute; no order was made as to costs.