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Gurmeet Singh and Ors. Etc. vs. State of Punjab & Ors.

Not available · 2024 INSC 872Decided 18 Nov 2024
Not available
Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha · Justice Sandeep Mehta

Background

The appellants were employees in the work-charged establishment of Punjab's Irrigation Department who sought benefits under the Proficiency Step-up Scheme, 1988. Their writ petitions were dismissed by a Single Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and their intra-court (Letters Patent) appeal was also dismissed by a Division Bench in 2012, on the ground that they were not entitled to the scheme's benefits. They then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that other employees of the very same establishment, similarly situated to the appellants, had already been granted Proficiency Step-up benefits, following an earlier tribunal ruling that the Irrigation Department itself had decided to implement unconditionally in November 2010. Holding that the appellants could not be treated differently from equally placed colleagues doing the same kind of work, the Court set aside the High Court's judgments, directed that the appellants' work-charged service be counted as qualifying service for Proficiency Step-up benefits under the 1988 scheme, and ordered payment of the resulting monetary benefits within six months.

Lesson Learnt

The principle of equal treatment bars the government from denying a service benefit to some employees of an establishment when it has already extended the same benefit to other, similarly situated employees performing comparable work.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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