**Supreme Court Holds Employees Entitled to Additional 2% Pay Revision Subject to Conditions**
April 28, 2023: In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court of India held that employees appointed after a pay revision are entitled to an additional 2% pay revision, subject to certain conditions. The judgment was passed by a bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar on April 28, 2023.
The case, titled Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. v. Sri B. G. Manamohana, revolved around the revision of pay scales for employees of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited. The respondents, who were appointed as “Assistant Executive Engineer (Electrical)” in 2007, had challenged the denial of the additional 2% pay revision to them.
The appellant corporation had argued that the employees appointed after the date of pay revision were not entitled to the additional 2%. However, the Supreme Court, after examining the relevant D.O./orders dated 27.09.2006 and 02.06.2008, held that all employees fulfilling the conditions mentioned in the D.O./order dated 02.06.2008 were entitled to the additional 2% pay revision, irrespective of their date of appointment.
The Court rejected the appellant’s contention that the employees should have automatically received the additional 2% from the date of their initial appointment. It noted that the D.O./order dated 02.06.2008 required the achievement of performance targets and obtaining sanction from management for the pay revision. Therefore, the Court held that the employees were entitled to the additional 2% pay revision, subject to the conditions mentioned in the D.O./order.
However, the Court also clarified that the employees should have fulfilled the performance targets to receive the additional 2% pay revision. It observed that the learned Single Judge and the Division Bench of the High Court had erred in directing the revision of pay by adding 2% automatically from the date of the employees’ appointment. The Court emphasized that the first-year employees were probationers and were to be placed in the minimum basic pay scale as per the rules.
Supreme Court partly allowed the appeal, quashing and setting aside the direction to revise the pay scale by adding 2% from the date of initial appointment. It directed that the respondents would be entitled to the additional 2% pay revision, subject to achieving the performance targets as mentioned in the D.O./order dated 02.06.2008.
Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. v. Sri B. G. Manamohana,
