Punjab and Haryana High Court orders regular pay scale for asst professors

Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that assistant professors in Punjab’s Medical Education Department are entitled to the regular pay scale under the Punjab Medical Education (Group-A) Service Rules, 2016, rather than the consolidated salary introduced by the state’s 2020 instructions.

The assertion came on a bunch of petitions filed by assistant professors, who challenged the state’s pay structure. The Bench was told that the petitioners, appointed between August and September 2021, were entitled to the pay scale of Rs 37,400-Rs 67,000 with a grade pay of Rs 8,600, as outlined in the 2016 rules. But they were being paid a salary of Rs 67,700 after citing instructions issued by the Punjab Government on July 17, 2020, which aligned new recruitments to the 7th Central Pay Commission.