Gauhati High Court Orders Retrospective UGC Pay Scale for Lecturer

Md. Ohiduz Zaman to Receive Arrears from 1993 after Court Declares Appointment Conditions Arbitrary

In a significant judgment, the Gauhati High Court has directed the State of Assam to grant the University Grants Commission (UGC) scale of pay to Md. Ohiduz Zaman, a former lecturer at Anandaram Dhekial Phookan College, Nagaon, retrospectively from the date of his regularization on November 12, 1993. The court found the conditions imposed in Zaman's appointment order, which required him to obtain an M.Phil or Ph.D. within eight years, to be arbitrary and lacking any legal basis at the time of his appointment.

Presiding over the case, Justice Robin Phukan ruled that the denial of the UGC pay scale from the date of regularization violated Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. The court noted that similarly situated lecturers had been granted UGC pay scales from their respective dates of joining, and depriving Zaman of the same benefit was discriminatory.

Zaman, who was initially appointed as a lecturer in 1985, had his services regularized following a court order in 1993. Despite completing his M.Phil in 2009, the UGC pay scale was only applied from that year, prompting him to challenge the decision. The court's review highlighted that the UGC qualifications, such as NET/SLET/M.Phil/Ph.D., were not mandatory at the time of Zaman's regularization.

The court dismissed the State's argument that the benefits were wrongly extended to other lecturers and should not set a precedent for Zaman. Instead, it emphasized the principle of treating all similarly situated employees equally.

The judgment mandates the State to calculate and disburse the arrears due to Zaman within two months. This decision underscores the judiciary's role in upholding constitutional rights and ensuring fairness in administrative actions.

Bottom Line:

Service Law - The imposition of conditions in the appointment order for regularization, which were not based on any rule or regulation at the time of appointment, is arbitrary and illegal - Deprivation of UGC scale of pay from the date of regularization without valid justification violates principles of equality under Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Statutory provision(s): Article 14 of the Constitution of India, Article 226 of the Constitution of India, UGC Regulations

Md. Ohiduz Zaman v. State of Assam, (Gauhati)(Principal Seat At Gauhati) : Law Finder Doc Id # 2809542