Ayurvedic doctors entitled to parity in salary with allopathic doctors: Supreme Court

New Delhi, March 26

Ayurvedic doctors are entitled to parity in salary with allopathic medical officers and dental medical officers under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM/NHM) Scheme, the Supreme Court has said.

Refusing to entertain a petition challenging an order of the Uttarakhand High Court High Court, a Bench led by Justice Vineet Saran on March 24 clarified that Ayurvedic doctors will be entitled to be treated on a par with Allopathic medical officers and dental medical officers under the NRHM/NHM Scheme.

“There is no intelligible differentia so as to distinguish the Ayurvedic and Homeopathic Medical Officers viz-a-viz Allopathic and Dental Medical Officers. There is no rational (reason) why similarly situated persons have been discriminated against. The petitioners as well as Allopathic and Dental Medical Officers constitute a homogeneous class,” the high court had said.

Noting that the nature of degrees and duration of courses were almost the same and therefore, they can’t be classified separately, the HC had allowed the petition filed by Ayurveda and Homeopath doctors seeking parity in salary on the ground that the classification made by the state government was irrational.

The Uttarakhand State Government had appointed Allopathic, Dental, Ayurvedic and Homeopathic Medical Officers on contractual basis under the NRHM. However, there was a considerable disparity in the salary of the Allopathic and Dental doctors and that of the Ayurvedic and Homeopathic doctors.

The Ayurvedic and Homeopathy doctors moved the high court after the authorities rejected their representation on the ground that they worked on contractual basis.

Earlier, the top court had in Bhagwan Dass and Others vs State of Haryana And Others (1987 said when duties and functions of temporary appointees and employees of the regular cadre in the same government department were similar, parity in respect of salary can’t be denied merely on the basis of the nature of their appointment.