The Supreme Court on Monday reiterated that even if nature of work could also be roughly the identical, the dimensions of pay might differ primarily based on educational qualification or expertise which justifies classification.

Relying on the judgment in Director of Elementary Education, Odisha and Others vs. Pramod Kumar Sahoo, the court docket additional held that inequality of males in numerous teams excludes applicability of the precept of ‘equal pay for equal work’ to them.

These observations had been made by the Supreme Court whereas permitting an enchantment filed by the Union of India difficult an order handed by a single choose, permitting the writ petition and holding that the unique writ petitioners had been entitled to Nursing Allowance.

In the case earlier than the Court, the unique writ petitioners had been working because the Nursing Assistants in varied hospitals beneath the institution of Border Security Force (BSF) and all of them had been being paid the ‘Hospital Patient Care Allowance’. According to them, they had been entitled to the Nursing Allowance just like the Staff Nurse.

This declare was opposed by the BSF, containing inter alia that the writ petitioners had been being paid the particular allowance often called ‘Hospital Patient Care Allowance’ and weren’t entitled to the Nursing Allowance at par with Staff Nurses as they weren’t certified as a Staff Nurse.

A bench of Justices Shah and Ravikumar thought-about a brief query, i.e., whether or not in a case the place the academic {qualifications} for the submit of Nursing Assistant and Staff Nurse had been totally different, nonetheless the Nursing Assistants shall be entitled to the Nursing Allowance at par with the Staff Nurses?

“The High Court has taken the view that the academic {qualifications} can’t be a floor for denial of Nursing Allowance at par with the Staff Nurse who may also be stated to be an integral half of the nursing service generally. The view taken by the High Court is simply opposite to the selections of this Court within the case of Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited (supra), Pramod Kumar Sahoo (supra) and T.V.L.N. Mallikarjuna Rao (supra)…”, the Supreme Court observed.

Allowing the appeal filed by Union of India, the Court held, “The Nursing Assistants in the BSF neither have relevant experience for appointment as Staff Nurse nor they possess any educational qualification for appointment as Staff Nurse. Therefore, the case of Nursing Assistants cannot be compared with that of the Staff Nurses as both carry different educational qualification. Under the circumstances, the High Court has committed a serious error in holding and directing that the Nursing Assistants serving in the Assam Rifles/BSF are entitled to Nursing Allowance at par with the Staff Nurses”

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