Existing employees in a dying cadre remain entitled to pay parity for equivalent duties.

The respondents were Electricians in the Higher Education Department. Electricians in the Public Works and Irrigation Departments received an upgraded Grade Pay of ₹2,400, from ₹1,900, under a Government Order dated 1 February 2016; the respondents were not given the same upgrade.

They claimed parity on the basis that the posts involved the same pay scale, duties and responsibilities, and prescribed academic qualifications.

The Public Services Tribunal allowed their claim and directed the State to grant them the same cadre structure and Grade Pay as Electricians in the other departments. The State challenged that decision, relying on differences in experience requirements, the post’s designation as a dying cadre, and the asserted applicability of UGC pay scales.

The Court applied the principle that pay parity may be warranted where posts have the same nature of duties and responsibilities, and differences in recruitment requirements do not, by themselves, justify a higher Grade Pay for one group.

A post’s designation as a dying cadre means that recruitment will cease and existing posts will be phased out as incumbents leave; it does not, by itself, remove existing employees’ entitlement to otherwise admissible pay parity.

The Court also held that UGC pay scales apply to teaching posts, not to the non-teaching post of Electrician.

No statute or precedent was cited in the judgment.

The Court was not persuaded that the additional experience requirement in the engineering departments justified different pay, particularly because the duties and responsibilities in Higher Education were the same.

It held that phasing out the post did not affect the existing respondents’ entitlement to parity while they remained in service. Nor could UGC pay scales exclude the respondents, since Electrician was a non-teaching post.

The Tribunal had considered the relevant matters and given valid reasons for granting the claim.