Entitlement to Skilled Status Pay Scales Includes Full Monetary Benefits From Date of Initial Appointment.

The applicant was appointed as a Constable Helper in the Police Transport Workshop, Srinagar, on July 21, 1981

He sought the benefit of Skilled Worker Category-B pay scales under SRO 149 of 1973, which had been granted to similarly situated employees following litigation in Uttam Chand v. State

While the government eventually issued Order No. 2172 of 2018 granting the applicant the skilled pay scale, it did so "notionally" from the date of his initial appointment and "monetarily" only from the date of the order (May 23, 2018)

Clause (vi) of the same order mandated that such personnel would cease to be entitled to police-specific perks, welfare schemes, and the right to wear police badges or ranks

The applicant challenged these restrictive clauses after retiring in 2019

1. Whether the respondents were legally justified in restricting the monetary benefits of the skilled worker pay scale to the date of the government order rather than the date of initial appointment

2. Whether the administration can retrospectively withdraw police-specific perks and benefits from an employee who had already discharged those duties for decades

The court primarily applied the principle of Equality (Article 14 of the Constitution), ruling that the administration cannot create an artificial class within a similarly situated group of employees to deny benefits earlier recognized by the judiciary

It relied on the precedent set in Uttam Chand & Ors. v. State & Ors. (SWP No. 60/1990), which established that tradesmen in the Police Department are entitled to SRO 149 of 1973 benefits from their dates of initial appointment

Furthermore, it applied the principle that administrative convenience or internal committee recommendations cannot override judicially recognized rights or represent a basis for unequal treatment between equals

The Tribunal reasoned that since the applicant’s entitlement was based on the same framework as the Uttam Chand case—where full monetary benefits were granted from the date of appointment—there was no lawful basis for the respondents to provide a "lesser and artificial" benefit to the applicant

The Tribunal rejected the state's argument that SRO 149 was a dead pay revision, noting that the government had already implemented it for 123 other similarly placed employees

Regarding the withdrawal of perks, the court found that since the applicant had actually served in the police setup for 38 years, the department could not "retrospectively rewrite the character of service" to recover benefits already paid for duties actually discharged

The court dismissed the plea of delay/estoppel because the cause of action arose only upon the issuance of the restrictive 2018 order

It held that the applicant is entitled to the pay scale of Skilled Worker Category-B from July 21, 1981, with all actual monetary arrears

The court ordered the respondents to re-fix his pay and pension, release differential arrears, and prohibited any recovery of police-specific perks drawn during his service

The respondents were directed to complete this exercise and issue a revised PPO within three months