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Secretary, Government of NCT of Delhi v. Grade-I DASS Officers' Association

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal Nos. 5153-5157 of 2009)Decided 30 Jul 2014
Civil Appeal Nos. 5153-5157 of 2009
Justice Vikramajit Sen · Justice Shiva Kirti Singh

Background

Delhi subordinate service officers who had completed 24 years of service sought a second financial upgradation under the 1999 Assured Career Progression scheme. Their next promotional post in DANICS carried the same pay scale as their existing post, so they sought the higher scale belonging to the grade above it. The tribunal rejected that claim, but the High Court directed consideration of the higher scale.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed the government's appeals, set aside the High Court judgment and dismissed the officers' writ petitions. For posts in an established cadre, the ACP scheme required financial upgradation to follow the existing promotional hierarchy rather than skip a grade because its pay scale was unchanged. The government's clarification applying pay fixation with a minimum benefit of Rs. 100 in that situation was consistent with the scheme. Granting the higher grade's scale would give these employees more than colleagues could receive on actual promotion and could require a reduction when they were later promoted. The Court held that the scheme's policy could not be rewritten simply because the prescribed monetary benefit seemed small.

Lesson Learnt

A financial upgradation depends on the precise career-progression scheme and the cadre's promotional structure. Under the ACP scheme applied here, sharing a pay scale with the next promotional post did not permit an employee to claim the scale two grades above.

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

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