Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh High Court's principal bench at Jabalpur on Tuesday struck down provisions allowing government employees to be paid only 70%, 80% and 90% of the minimum pay scale during their probation period.
A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal ruled that employees appointed after Nov 25, 2019, must be paid full salary for work performed during probation.
It also set aside rules and circulars providing for 70%, 80% and 90% of the minimum pay scale in the first, second and third years of probation, respectively.
The High Court observed that employees selected through the prescribed recruitment process perform the same duties as regular employees during probation.
Paying reduced salaries despite extracting 100% work was therefore unjustified and discriminatory towards Class III and Class IV employees.
The court also clarified that employees are entitled to the salary prescribed under recruitment rules and that it cannot be reduced or recovered without valid justification.
