B.C. NAGARAJ & ANR versus THE STATE OF KARNATAKA & ORS

Citation: [2023] 12 S.C.R. 235 · Decided: 13-09-2023 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ABHAY S. OKA · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed
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Judgment (excerpt)

CASE DETAILS
B.C. NAGARAJ & ANR.
v.
THE STATE OF KARNATAKA & ORS.
(Civil Appeal Nos.5529¬5530 of 2023)
SEPTEMBER 13, 2023.
[ABHAY S. OKA AND PANKAJ MITHAL, JJ.]
HEADNOTES
Issue for consideration: Whether the retired physical instructors of 
the Government College are entitled to the beneﬁ t of revised pay scale when 
the same beneﬁ t was granted to the similarly placed employees.
Service law – Revised pay scale – Beneﬁ t of – Entitlement, to retired 
physical instructors of the Government College – When the same beneﬁ t 
of University Grant Commission pay scale under the Government order 
dated 15.11.1999 was granted to the similarly placed employees:
Held: Retired physical instructors should not be denied the same relief, 
when the same beneﬁ t was granted to the similarly placed employees – Case 
of similarly placed retiree, decided by the Single Judge of the High Court 
was similar to the present appellants wherein the Single Judge held that he 
was entitled to the beneﬁ t of the revised UGC pay scale from 1.01.1996 
based on the order dated 15.11.1999 – Said order attained ﬁ nality upto this 
Court – It appears that the Order dated 19.10.2006 issued by UGC and the 
Order dated 4.07.2008 issued by the State Government that the Government 
employees were not entitled to a revised pay scale with retrospective eﬀ ect 
were not pointed out to the courts below as also this Court who decided the 
case of the similarly placed retiree – State Government never applied for 
the review and allowed the said order to become ﬁ nal – In the subsequent 
decision, the Division Bench of the same High Court noted the directions 
issued by the UGC on 19.10.2006 and the Order dated 4.07.2008 – However, 
even thereafter, despite the Government Order dated 4.07.2008, in 2014, 
to the employees who were similarly placed as the appellants, the beneﬁ ts 
[2023] 12 S.C.R. 235 : 2023 INSC 828
235
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2023] 12 S.C.R.
236
of the revised UGC pay scale in terms of the Government order dated 
15.11.1999 were granted – Now, the State Government cannot rely upon 
the Government Order dated 4.07.2008 – Thus, issuance of direction to 
the State Government to extend the beneﬁ ts under the Government Order 
dated 15.11.1999 to the retired physical instructors within the stipulated 
period. [Paras 6-12]
LIST OF CITATIONS AND OTHER REFERENCES
State of Karnataka & Anr. v. Puttaswamy and Ors. Writ Appeal no.234 
of 2007 dated 29th April 2011; Irayya & Ors. v. The Secretary & Ors. Writ 
Petition no. 62679 of 2012 30th July 2012 – referred to.
OTHER CASE DETAILS INCLUDING IMPUGNED 
ORDER AND APPEARANCES
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 5529-5530 
of 2023.
From the Judgment and Order dated 09.10.2017 of the High Court of 
Karnataka at Bengaluru in WP Nos.1895 and 1896 of 2014.
Appearances:
Charudatta Vijayrao Mahindrakar, Mrs. Darshan Mahindrakar, Advs. 
for the Appellants.
Prateek K. Chadha, AAG, V. N. Raghupathy, Manendra Pal Gupta, Md. 
Apzal Ansari, Sreekar Aechuri, Ms. Muskan Singla, Ms. Pragya Ganjoo, 
Advs. for the Respondents.
JUDGMENT / ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT
JUDGMENT
ABHAY S. OKA, J.
FACTUAL ASPECTS
1. The appellants were employed initially as Physical Instructors in 
Government Grade Colleges in Karnataka. The ﬁ rst appellant reached the 
selection grade pay scale of the University Grants Commission (UGC) on 
1st January 1986. The second appellant was granted senior scale of pay on 
1st January 1986 and selection grade of pay from 13th July 1990. The ﬁ rst 
237
appellant was superannuated on 31st January 1998, and the second appellant 
was superannuated on 31st May 2004. Both, at the time of retirement, were 
selection grade Physical Education Directors in the State Government 
colleges. 
2. On 15th November 1999, the State Government issued an order 
revising the pay scale of Teachers, Librarians and Physical Education 
Directors in the Government colleges. Under the said Government order, 
the beneﬁ t of the University Grants Commission (UGC) pay scales as 
revised from 1st January 1996 was granted to these three categories of 
employees with retrospective eﬀ ect from 1st January 1996. On the same 
day, by a separate order, the beneﬁ t of the revised pay scale was granted to 
Teachers, Librarians and Directors of Education in the Government-aided 
colleges. The order dated 15th November 1999 was partially modiﬁ ed on 
29th July 2000. A circular was issued by the Government of Karnataka on 
23rd October 2001
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