In the matter ofUnion of India & Ors. Versus Rajib Khan & Ors., the Supreme Court of India held that Education qualification of an employee is a valid criterion to differentiate the pay scale of an employee even when the nature of the work is same.

The Judgement was given by the division bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravi Kumar. The case was filed by the Union of India and the main issue to file the case was "Whether in a case where the educational qualifications for the post of Nursing Assistant and Staff Nurse are different, still the Nursing Assistants shall be entitled to the Nursing Allowance at par with the Staff Nurses?"

After feeling aggrieved with the judgment of the Gauhati High Court the UoI filed a case in the Apex Court. In its judgement Gauhati High Court has held that the original writ petitioners are entitled to Nursing Allowance.

The claim of the original writ petitioners claiming Nursing Allowance at par with the Nursing Staff was opposed by the appellants contending that they were being paid the special allowance known as ‘Hospital Patient Care Allowance’ and were therefore not entitled to the Nursing Allowance at par with Staff Nurses as they are not qualified as a Staff Nurse.

In its judgement Gauhati High Court observe that the performed and nursing staff of the Hospital both are performing the same duties and educational qualification cannot be a ground for denial of Nursing Allowance.

After the bench dismissed the plea, the appellant moved to the Supreme Court. Advocate Ms. Madhavi Divan, the Counsel member of the appellant submitted that –

“It is submitted that so far as the qualification of the Staff Nurses is concerned, it is four years course and so far as the Nursing Assistants are concerned, they have completed only one year course which is the requirement for the post of Nursing Assistants. Therefore, they shall not be entitled to claim the Nursing Allowance at par with the Staff Nurses.”

In its reply, the Counsel member argued that both Nursing Assistant and Nursing staff are the integral part of the nursing services and would be performing the similar duties. He further added that Gauhati High Court has not committed any error in directing to pay Nursing Allowance to the Nursing Assistants at par with the Staff Nurse.

After hearing an argument of both the Parties the Supreme Court of India held that –

"The view taken by the High Court is contrary to the decisions of this Court in the case of Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited and Another versus Balbir Kumar Walia and others, (2021) 8 SCC 784; Director of Elementary Education, Odisha and Others versus Pramod Kumar Sahoo, (2019) 10 SCC 674 and Secretary Department of Personnel Public Grievances & Pension &Anr. versus T.V.L.N. Mallikarjuna Rao, (2015) 3 SCC 653."

The Court further said that “applying the law laid down by this Court in the aforesaid decisions to the facts of the case on hand the view taken by the High Court that the educational qualification cannot be a ground for denial of Nursing Allowance to the Nursing Assistants is unsustainable. 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."

Court further added that the impugned judgment and order passed by the learned Single Judge as well as the Division Bench of the High Court holding and directing that the original writ petitioners – Nursing Assistants shall be entitled to Nursing Allowance at par with the Staff Nurse is hereby quashed and set aside.

Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR, appeared for appellant(s) and Mr. Omanakuttan K. K., AOR, appeared for the respondent(s).