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Judgment
These appeals are before us pursuant to the reference order dated 03.10.2019 of a Division Bench of this Court in the said appeals. The issue pertains to the effective date of entitlement, of teachers in colleges who had acquired Ph.D degrees while in service, to the benefit of two advance increments as envisaged under the UGC Scheme of 1998 that was made effective from 01.01.1996. A learned Single Judge, in the judgment impugned in the appeals, found that the entitlement of the teachers to the benefit of advance increments was with effect from 01.01.1996 itself. The said finding was rendered following the judgment dated 20.06.2003 of another learned Single Judge in O.P.No.32727 of 2001, the appeal against which was dismissed by a Division Bench of this Court by judgment dated 28.09.2004 in W.A.No.1635 of 2004. The referring court, however, found that the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture Research and Education, New Delhi had, through a clarification dated 14.11.2005, declared that the benefit of two advance increments would be available to the teachers concerned only with effect from 27.07.1998 and that, relying on the said clarification, a subsequent Division Bench of this Court had, through its judgment dated 31.07.2006 in W.A.No.1044 of 2005 and connected cases held that the benefit aforementioned would be available only with effect from 27.07.1998. It is with a view to resolve the above conflict of opinions that the matters are now placed before us.
We have heard Sri. Robson Paul, the learned counsel for the appellants and Sri. P.V.Jayachandran, the learned counsel for the 1st respondent.
The Government of India, after taking into consideration the recommendations made by the UGC decided to revise the pay scale of teachers in the Central Universities and notified the revised pay scales and provisions of the UGC Scheme 1998 through a communication dated 27.07.1998. The said communication made the scheme applicable to the teachers in all the Central Universities and Colleges thereunder and the deemed to be universities whose maintenance expenditure was met by the UGC. The scheme envisaged, inter alia, the grant of the following incentives for Ph.D/M.Phil degree holders:
“(ii) Incentives for Ph.D/M.phil
(a) Four and two advance increments will be admissible to those who hold Ph.D and M.Phil degrees, respectively, at the time of recruitment as Lecturers.
(b) One increment will be admissible to those teachers with M.Phil who acquire Ph.D within two years of recruitment.
(c) A Lecturer with Ph.D will be eligible for two advance increments when he moves into Selection grade as Reader.
(d) A teacher will be eligible for two advance increments as and when he acquires a Ph.D. Degree in his service career.”
By another communication dated 27.07.1998, addressed to the Education Secretaries of all the States/Union Territories, the Central Government informed them of its decision to continue to provide financial assistance to the State Governments who wish to adopt and implement the scheme of revision of pay scales, subject to the terms and conditions specified therein. As the contents of the said communication are of paramount importance in deciding the issue referred to us, we deem it necessary to reproduce the said communication in its entirety.
No.F.1-22/97-U.I
Government of India
Ministry of Human Resource Development
(Department of Education)
**********************
New Delhi, the 27th July, 1998.
To,
The Education Secretaries
of all States/Union Territories
Subject:
Revision of pay scales of teachers in Universities and Colleges following the revision of pay scales of Central Government employees on the recommendations of Fifth Central Pay Commission. **********************
Madam/Sir,
I am directed to say that in fulfillment of the constitutional responsibility for coordination, determination and maintenance of standards in higher education, the Central Government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) have taken, from time to time, several measures. As a part of these efforts, the Central Government has revised the pay scales of teachers in Central Universities and Colleges thereunder in order to attract and retain talent in the teaching profession. A copy of the letter addressed to the UGC giving details of the revised scales of pay and other provisions of the Scheme of revision of pay scales is enclosed.
In discharging its constitutional responsibility, the Central Government has decided to continue to provide financial assistance to the State Governments who wish to adopt and implement the Scheme of revision of pay scales subject to the following terms and conditions:-
(a) The Central Government will provide financial assistance to the State Governments which have opted for these revised pay scales to the extent of 80% of the additional expenditure involved in the implementation of the revision.
(b) The State Government will meet the remaining 20% of the expenditure from their own sources.
(c) The financial assistance, indicated above, would be provided for the period from 1.1.1996 to 31.3.2000.
(d) The entire liability on account of revision of pay scales, etc., of university and college teachers would be taken over by the State Governments w.e.f. 1.4.2000.
(e) The Central assistance would be restricted to revision of pay scales in respect of only those posts which were in existence and filled up on 1.1.1996.
The State Governments, after taking local conditions into consideration, may also decide in their discretion, to introduce scales of pay difference from those mentioned in the Scheme, and may give effect to the revised scales of pay from January 1, 1996, or a later date. In such cases, the details of the modifications proposed either to the scales of pay or the date from which the Scheme is to be implemented, should be furnished to the Government of India for its approval and, subject to the approval being accorded to the modifications, Central assistance on the same terms and conditions as indicated above will be available to the State Governments for implementation of the Scheme with such modifications, provided that the modified scales of pay are not higher than those approved under the Scheme.
The payment of Central assistance for implementation of the Scheme is also subject to the condition that the entire Scheme of revision of pay scales, together with all the conditions to be laid down in this regard by the UGC by way of Regulations, is implemented by the State Governments as a composite scheme without any modification except to the date of implementation and scales of pay as indicated above.
It shall be necessary for the Universities and Managements of Colleges to make necessary changes in their statutes, ordinances, rules, regulations, etc., to incorporate the provisions of this Scheme.
The detailed proposal for implementation of the Scheme on the lines indicated above, may kindly be formulated immediately and sent to the Department of Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development for examination so that Central assistance to the extent indicated above can be sanctioned for the implementation of revised scales of pay.
Anomalies, if any, in the implementation of the Scheme may be brought to the notice of the Department of Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development for clarification.
The Scheme applies to teachers in all Universities (including Agricultural Universities) and colleges (excluding Agricultural, Medical and Veterinary Science Colleges) admitted to the privileges of the Universities.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/-
[LALMALSAWMA]
Director
Copy to:-
Secretary, University Grants Commission, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi.
Registrars of all Universities.
Secretary, Indian Council for Agricultural Research, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.
Sd/-
[LALMALSAWMA]
Director
It will be seen from paragraphs 3 and 4 of the said communication that the State Governments were given a discretion, inter alia, to introduce scales of pay different, but lower than those announced by the Central Government, within their State with effect from 01.01.1996 or a later date with the sole condition that if they decided to implement the scales of pay with effect from a later date, they had to intimate the Central Government of the said fact. That apart, as can be seen from paragraph 4 of the said communication, the State Governments were obliged to implement the entire scheme of revision of pay scales, together with all the conditions to be laid down in that regard by the UGC by way of regulations, as a composite scheme without any modification except to the date of implementation and scales of pay.
The State Government Order adopting and implementing the UGC Scheme 1998, including the revision of pay scales, was issued on 21.12.1999 and is produced as Ext.P2 in the writ petition. With regard to the date of effect of the revised UGC Scheme in the State, it is stated as follows in paragraph 4.1 of the said Government Order:
“DATE OF EFFECT
4.1 The revised UGC Scheme, 1998 will be implemented in the State with effect from 1.1.1996. The stipulation regarding minimum length of service for career advancement to the level of Lecturer (Senior scale) and Reader/Lecturer (Selection Grade) has been modified in the revised UGC scheme as clarified by Ministry of Human Resources Development subsequently. This modified provision need be implemented only from the date of notification of the Scheme by Government of India i.e. 27.7.1998.”
The incentives for Ph.D/M.Phil are separately mentioned in paragraphs 6.16 to 6.19 of the Government Order and are identical to the provisions in the Central Government communication already extracted above.
What is of particular significance in Ext.P2 Government Order is that the State Government, in exercise of the discretion conferred on it by the communication dated 27.07.1998 of the Central Government, deemed it necessary to postpone the implementation of only certain provisions in the State, to 27.07.1998. The implementation of the scheme of advance increments was not one of those provisions. This being the factual position, and read with the obligation of the State Government to implement the scheme and pay scales as a composite package in the State, we find ourselves unable to hold that the effective date for the grant of the benefit of advance increments to holders of Ph.D/M.Phil should be postponed to a date later than 01.01.1996, which is the effective date announced by the State Government for implementation of the scheme in the State. The clarification issued by the Central Government, runs contrary to the finding of illegality in the judgment dated 20.06.2003 of a learned Single Judge of this Court in O.P.No.32727 of 2001 where the Court found that the fixation of different dates for grant of benefits to those who had acquired their Ph.D qualifications before and after 01.01.1996 would offend the equality principle under Article 14 of our Constitution. The appeal against the said judgment was dismissed by a Division Bench of this Court by judgment dated 28.09.2004 in W.A.No.1635 of 2004 and an SLP preferred against that judgment was also dismissed by the Supreme Court. The Central Government clarification also ignores the fact that the implementation of the UGC Scheme and pay scales in the State is always based on the terms of the Government Order adopting the UGC scheme and pay scales for implementation within the State [See: Kalyani Mathivanan v. K.V. Jeyaraj and Others – [(2015) 6 SCC 363]]. We therefore find that the view taken by the Division Bench of this Court in the judgment dated 31.07.2006 in W.A.No.1044 of 2005 and connected cases is erroneous in law, and we overrule the same.
The reference is accordingly answered by holding that effective date of entitlement to the benefit of two advance increments as envisaged under the UGC Scheme of 1998, for teachers in colleges who had acquired Ph.D degrees while in service, is 01.01.1996 and not 27.07.1998.
While under normal circumstances, we would have had to remand these appeals to the Division Bench for consideration based on our answer to the reference, we note that by answering the reference as above, nothing further remains to be considered by the Division Bench. Accordingly, while answering the reference as above, we also dismiss the Writ Appeals by upholding the impugned judgment of the learned Single Judge for the reasons stated in the said judgment as supplemented by the reasons in this judgment.
The Writ Appeals are dismissed.