Summary
Nursing Assistants in BSF hospitals already received a Hospital Patient Care Allowance. They obtained a Gauhati High Court direction that they be paid the Nursing Allowance given to Staff Nurses, on the ground that they performed similar duties and that qualifications could not justify different treatment. The Supreme Court reversed. Following Mallikarjuna Rao, Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation and Pramod Kumar Sahoo, it held that differences in educational qualification and experience can lawfully justify different pay and allowances, even where the work is broadly similar. Nursing Assistants hold a one-year qualification, not the four-year course, and lack nursing council registration. They are therefore not comparable with Staff Nurses.
Issues
- Whether Nursing Assistants in the BSF, whose educational qualifications differ from those of Staff Nurses, are entitled to Nursing Allowance at par with Staff Nurses.
Provisions considered
- Articles 14 and 16, Constitution of IndiaClassification for pay and allowances based on educational qualifications and experience does not offend equality, and the principle of equal pay for equal work does not apply between unequal groups. (¶¶ 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5)
Held
- Classification of posts and determination of pay structure lie within the executive's domain, and different educational qualifications and experience may justify different pay scales even where the nature of work is more or less the same (Mallikarjuna Rao, Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, Pramod Kumar Sahoo). (¶¶ 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4)
- The High Court's view that educational qualification cannot be a ground to deny the allowance is unsustainable; Nursing Assistants, paid Hospital Patient Care Allowance and lacking the qualification and experience for appointment as Staff Nurses, cannot be equated with them. (¶ 5)
Result
Civil Appeal No. 172 of 2023 allowed; the Gauhati High Court judgment dated 02.11.2021 in W.A. No. 305 of 2021 and the Single Judge's order quashed and the writ petition claiming Nursing Allowance at par with Staff Nurses dismissed; no costs.