HC rejects plea against grant of UGC pay scale to lecturer

Cuttack: The Orissa high court has endorsed the grant of benefit of UGC scale of pay to a lecturer who neither had the required 55% marks in MA when he was appointed 44 years ago nor had later acquired an MPhil degree.
The single-judge bench of Biraja Prasanna Satapathy gave the approval recently while dismissing the state govt’s 2009 appeal challenging the order passed by State Education Tribunal in the case of Dasarathi Sahoo on May 31, 2008.The tribunal had held that Sahoo was entitled to get the benefit of UGC scale of pay with effect from Jan 1, 1986 and set aside the state govt’s Aug 6, 2005 order, which had rejected his claim. The state govt had filed an appeal against the tribunal’s order in 2009.
Sahoo was initially appointed as a lecturer in English at Mangala Mahavidyalaya, Kakatpur in Puri district on Mar 22, 1980. Though he did not have the required 55% marks in MA (English), the deficiency was condoned by Utkal University in an order issued on Sept 15, 1989.
Sahoo’s counsel Jitendra Kumar Lenka told TOI that he retired as reader of English (state govt pay scale) while serving at Pipili College in Puri on Mar 31, 2017.
The state govt said the condonation of the deficiency in qualification by Utkal University, was only for the purpose of continuance of Sahoo in his job and to bring him under grant-in-aid fold in the existing scale of pay applicable to non-govt aided college and not to extend the UGC benefit.
While dismissing the state govt’s appeal on May 21, Justice Satapathy said, “This court accordingly finds no illegality or irregularity with the impugned judgment and is not inclined to interfere with the same. The appeal accordingly fails and stands dismissed.”