Salary cut (symbolic picture)
Digital Desk, Jabalpur. Madhya Pradesh High Court has declared the salary cut during the probation period as illegal, giving a big relief to the new employees. A division bench of Administrative Judge Vivek Rusia and Justice Deepak Khot quashed the circular issued by the General Administration Department on December 12, 2019, in which there was a provision to pay less salary during the probation period.
The High Court clearly said that even during the probation period, when 100 percent work is being taken from the employees, then they will have to be paid full (100 percent) salary. The court ordered that the amount should be returned as arrears to the employees whose salaries were deducted during probation.
The court remarked that the principle of equal pay for equal work fully applies to probation also. In case of taking regular work, it is mandatory to pay minimum full salary to the employees. The court also declared all recoveries made from salaries illegal.
These petitions were filed by employees of many districts of the state including Chhindwara resident Aditya Mishra. The petitioners had challenged the provision of the government, in which there was a provision to give 70 percent salary to the new recruits in the first year, 80 percent in the second year and 90 percent in the third year, whereas there was a rule to give the full salary only after becoming regular in the fourth year.
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After the hearing, the High Court canceled this arrangement considering it against the rights of the employees. The court also declared all recoveries made from the salaries of employees during the probation period illegal. Said to return to all those employees the amount of salary cut in the form of arrears which was deducted from their salary during the probation period.
Demand of employee organizations, order should be implemented immediately
After the High Court's decision, employee organizations have demanded immediate implementation from the government. Madhya Pradesh Employees Forum President Ashok Pandey said that this is a historic decision in the interest of the employees. Employee organizations had been opposing this system for years, but no solution was found at the government level.
He said that now that the court has canceled the six-year-old order, the salary cut orders issued by the Finance Department should also be immediately canceled and the deducted amount should be returned to the employees in lump sum without any delay.