The Delhi High Court settled a long-running service dispute involving Mechanical Engineers of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), holding that they are entitled to higher non-functional pay benefits under the Fifth and Sixth Central Pay Commission regimes. The court dismissed the Union government’s challenge and ordered release of long-pending financial benefits with interest.
The verdict came in a common judgment delivered by a Division Bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Madhu Jain, dealing with two connected writ petitions that had been pending for years. One petition challenged an earlier Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order granting Non-Functional Junior Administrative Grade (NFJAG), while the other sought Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU) benefits after retirement.
In a clear message to the Centre, the High Court ruled that Mechanical Engineers working in GSI form part of an Organised Group ‘A’ Service, making them eligible for non-functional pay upgradations. The bench also imposed costs on the Union of India for repeatedly contesting issues that courts have already settled.
The dispute dates back to the early 2000s when Kanhaiya Singh and another GSI engineer approached the Central Administrative Tribunal. They challenged the government’s refusal to grant them NFJAG pay scale benefits recommended by the Fifth Central Pay Commission.
In 2003, the CAT ruled in their favour, holding that GSI engineers could not be denied NFJAG merely because they were treated as part of the General Central Service. The Union of India challenged this decision before the Delhi High Court through W.P.(C) 16769/2004.
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Years later, after retirement, one of the engineers again moved the Tribunal seeking NFU benefits under the Sixth Pay Commission. This claim was rejected in 2011, leading to W.P.(C) 1541/2012 before the High Court.
Given the overlap of issues, the High Court heard both matters together.
Counsel for the engineers argued that GSI’s Mechanical Engineering cadre has always been treated as an organised service for pay and promotional purposes. They pointed out that several government memorandums since the 1980s recognised GSI’s technical streams as eligible for non-functional grades.
The Union government, however, maintained that the Mechanical Engineering branch of GSI became an organised service only after formal recruitment rules were notified in 2013. On that basis, it argued that benefits like NFJAG and NFU could not be granted retrospectively.
Justice Navin Chawla, writing for the bench, rejected the Centre’s position in strong terms. The court noted that official memorandums as early as 1982 had consistently treated GSI as an Organised Group ‘A’ Service, except for its administrative and financial wings.
“The respondents cannot now go back from their own official memorandums,” the bench observed, adding that repeated attempts to reclassify the Mechanical Engineering cadre were untenable.
The court also relied on earlier rulings of the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court, which had already held that GSI engineers are part of an organised service. It referred to Supreme Court observations warning the Union against filing “frivolous” petitions on issues that stand settled.
Importantly, the bench clarified that the 2013 notification formally recognising the GSI Engineering Service did not create a new right but merely reaffirmed an existing status.
In its operative directions, the High Court dismissed the Union of India’s writ petition challenging the CAT’s 2003 order and upheld the grant of NFJAG benefits to the engineers.
At the same time, it allowed the retired engineer’s petition seeking NFU benefits. The court directed the government to re-fix his pay and release all consequential benefits within eight weeks, along with interest at six percent per annum.
Taking note of the Centre’s repeated litigation on the same issue, the bench imposed costs of ₹25,000 each, payable to the petitioners.
Case Title: Union of India & Ors. v. Kanhaiya Singh & Anr.
Case Number: W.P.(C) 16769/2004 and W.P.(C) 1541/2012
