Jabalpur, Sep 8 (IANS) The Madhya Pradesh High Court has struck down the state government’s policy of paying reduced salary (stipend) to Class-III and Class-IV employees during their three-year probation period, calling it “discriminatory” and “unconstitutional”.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal, in a common order pronounced on Tuesday, allowed a batch of writ petitions of 2020 and several connected matters of 2025 and 2026.

The petitioners had challenged the state General Administration Department (GAD) circular dated December 12, 2019, and subsequent amendments to the “Fundamental Rules” and various departmental recruitment rules that introduced a three-year probation with payment of only 70 per cent, 80 per cent and 90 per cent of the minimum pay scale in the first, second and third years respectively.

The Court noted that the original recruitment rules prescribed the minimum of the pay scale during a two-year probation. The later circular and amendments extended the probation to three years and introduced the staggered reduced pay structure.

The bench said that when full work is taken from an employee, there is no justification for paying less than the full salary attached to the post.

The judges held that the policy created an unreasonable classification between Class-I/II officers (who receive full pay during probation) and Class-III/IV employees, violating Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

They also said that salary lower than the prescribed pay scale can be reduced only by way of punishment after proven misconduct, which was not the case here.

The Court struck down the Council of Ministers’ decision of November 2019, the GAD circular of December 12, 2019, the amendment to “Fundamental Rule 22-C” dated February 22, 2020, and all consequential amendments made by various departments in their recruitment rules.

It directed that employees who did not receive full salary during probation would be paid 100 per cent of the minimum pay scale for that period, and any amount already recovered would be refunded.

The order follows earlier decisions of the High Court in the Wasim Akram and Dilliraj Bhilala cases, which had already quashed recoveries under the same circular.

The judgment is expected to benefit thousands of government employees across departments, including those in school education and other Class-III and Class-IV cadres, who were appointed after the controversial policy came into force.

–IANS

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