Big jolt to Punjab govt as HC orders continuation of secretariat pay for staff of 3 varsities
PTC Web Desk: In a big setback to the Punjab Government, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the continuation of secretariat pay for staff of Panjab University, Chandigarh; Punjabi University, Patiala and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
In 2019, the Punjab government directed that secretariat pay for three universities' employees be discontinued, arguing that the state bears the financial burden and has the right to terminate the benefit of secretariat pay because university employees cannot be treated equally with employees of the state civil secretariat.
High Court, quashed the Punjab government’s instructions, saying that “.. the state government has no jurisdiction to interfere in the day-to-day working of the university once the syndicate has taken the decision to grant parity to its employees with that of employees of the Punjab civil secretariat."
The secretariat pay is a special pay given to specific categories of employees, primarily in state civil secretariats. It is higher than the salaries paid to similar types of employees in other places. Thousands of university employees will be affected by this decision.
Individual workers and associations of non-teaching staff at Punjabi University (Patiala), Guru Nanak Dev University (Amritsar), and Panjab University (Chandigarh) filed petitions opposing the government's move. They claimed that the benefit was in line with the statute's provisions, which give the university the authority to offer pay scales, grade pay, and allowances that are comparable to those received by Punjab Civil Secretariat employees.
- With inputs from our correspondent
