Tripura HC Gives Absorbed Assistant Professors 5 PhD/2 MPhil Increments, Like Recruits, For Degrees Earned As PG Teachers

The appellants were initially appointed as part-time contract teachers in Tripura’s government degree colleges and, following a 2010 Council of Ministers’ decision, were engaged as Post Graduate Teachers.

Pursuant to earlier court directions, the State framed a scheme and absorbed the appellants as Assistant Professors. Some appellants had obtained Ph.D. degrees, and others M.Phil. degrees, while serving as Post Graduate Teachers. The State granted them three advance increments for a Ph.D. and one for an M.Phil., rather than the five and two increments, respectively, provided for qualifying degrees held at entry into the Assistant Professor post. The Single Judge upheld the State’s position; the appellants challenged that decision in these appeals

Clause 5A(i)–(ii) of Tripura’s notification dated 27 December 2019 provides five non-compoundable advance increments to eligible Ph.D. holders and two to M.Phil. holders at entry into the Assistant Professor post; clauses 5A(iv)(a) and 5A(vii) provide three increments for a Ph.D. and one for an M.Phil. acquired in service, subject to the prescribed conditions

The Court applied Article 14’s prohibition on arbitrary classification and the principle that, once persons enter a common cadre, differences based on their source or route of recruitment cannot, without a rational basis, justify unequal service benefits. It relied on *Col. A.S. Iyer v. V. Balasubramanyam*, (1980) 1 SCC 634, on the irrelevance of “birthmarks” after entry into a common service, and *Union of India v. Atul Shukla*, (2014) 10 SCC 432, on unequal treatment within a cadre

The Court considered that the appellants and directly recruited Assistant Professors formed one cadre after the appellants’ absorption. Their Ph.D. or M.Phil. qualifications served the same objective—improving teaching and higher-education standards—whether obtained before recruitment or during earlier service as Post Graduate Teachers

The Court found no rational basis for granting fewer increments to absorbed Assistant Professors merely because of when they obtained their qualifications or how they entered the cadre. That distinction was arbitrary, lacked an intelligible differentia connected to the objective of educational excellence, and could also result in senior teachers receiving less pay than junior colleagues

The State was directed to grant the appellants in WA No. 87 of 2026 five non-compoundable advance increments and those in WA No. 88 of 2026 two increments, effective from their respective dates of absorption as Assistant Professors. Differential amounts and any sums already recovered were to be paid or refunded within eight weeks, and further recoveries were to stop forthwith