### Re-employed Ex-Servicemen (PBOR) are Not Entitled to Pay Protection Where Entire Pension is Ignored for Fixation.

The applicant, a retired Master Warrant Officer from the Indian Air Force (retired 31.01.2004), was re-employed as an Assistant Central Intelligence Officer under the Ministry of Home Affairs on 22.01.2009

Upon re-employment, his pay was fixed at the minimum of the pay scale (Pay Band of Rs. 9,300/- with Grade Pay of Rs. 4,200/-)

The applicant contended that his pay should have been fixed based on his last drawn pay (Rs. 23,080/-) as per the 6th CPC revised scales

He challenged the orders dated 13.05.2015 and 23.11.2017, which rejected his request for pay protection

1. Whether an Ex-Serviceman (Personnel Below Officer Rank) is entitled to pay protection based on last drawn pay upon re-employment in a civil post when his entire military pension is ignored for pay fixation

2. Whether Clause 4(b)(i) of the CCS (Fixation of Pay of Re-employed Pensioners) Orders, 1986 is discriminatory and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution

CCS (Fixation of Pay of Re-employed Pensioners) Orders, 1986, specifically Rule 4(b)(i), as amended by the DoPT Office Memorandum dated 05.04.2010, which mandates that where pension is fully ignored, initial pay on re-employment shall be fixed at the minimum of the scale

The Full Bench decision of the CAT Ernakulam Bench in Mahindra Kumar G.R. v. Union of India, which upheld the classification between Commissioned Officers and PBOR for pay fixation as a reasonable classification under Article 14

Precedent set by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Union Territory of Chandigarh v. Gurcharan Singh, which held that re-employed soldiers receiving full pension have no right to higher salary or pay protection for past services

The Tribunal analyzed the DoPT OM dated 05.04.2010 and noted that it distinguishes between cases where pension is "fully ignored" and where it is not

For PBOR (below Commissioned Officer rank), the entire pension is ignored for pay fixation, meaning they receive their full pension plus the salary of the new post

The Tribunal reasoned that since the applicant’s pension was not deducted from his salary, he could not simultaneously claim pay protection of his last drawn salary

Following the Full Bench ruling, the Tribunal found that the different treatment of Commissioned Officers (whose pension is only partially ignored but who get pay protection) and PBOR (whose pension is fully ignored but who start at the minimum scale) is based on "intelligible differentia" and is not discriminatory

The court concluded that the applicant failed to show any legal right to have his previous service count toward his initial pay fixation in the re-employed post

It held that because the applicant's pension was fully ignored, his pay was correctly fixed at the minimum of the applicable pay scale without protection of the last drawn pay

Consequently, the Original Application was dismissed as devoid of merit, and no relief was granted