Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 3: The All India Registered Nurses Federation (AIRNF) J&K UT Committee has expressed serious concern over the ongoing discrimination faced by the nursing fraternity of Jammu & Kashmir with regard to their entry-level pay scales and promotional hierarchy.
In J&K, nurses possessing GNM, Post Basic Nursing, or B Sc Nursing qualifications are recruited as Junior Staff Nurse in Pay Level-4 (Group-C), whereas in all other Union Territories and major States, the same qualification leads to recruitment as Nursing Officer in Pay Level-7 (Group-B Non-Gazetted).
“This issue directly contravenes Article 14 and Article 16 of the Constitution of India, which guarantee equality before law and equal opportunity in public employment. When all UTs operate under the same constitutional and Central Pay Commission framework, placing J&K Nurses in a lower pay bracket for the same qualification, same responsibility, and same nature of duties amounts to hostile discrimination and fails the legal test of reasonable classification,” said AIRNF and reminded that the Supreme Court of India has repeatedly held that when work, responsibility, and qualifications are equal, pay differentiation is arbitrary, unjust, and unconstitutional.
Furthermore, said AIRNF, the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) clearly classifies Nursing Officers at Entry Pay Level-7 as part of the skilled technical cadre across India and Central institutions such as AIIMS, ESIC, and all other UT health institutions follow the national cadre structure whereas J&K has never aligned its nursing cadre with this national, legally consistent, and scientifically structured system, resulting in decades of stagnation, limited career progression, and severe professional disadvantage for J&K Nursing employees.
The AIRNF J&K UT Committee said that it has already submitted multiple detailed representations to the Health Secretary, the Health Minister, and the Lieutenant Governor of J&K UT, but the long-pending demand for rectification of pay scales and restructuring of the nursing cadre remains unattended.
AIRNF has urged the Health & Medical Education Department to intervene immediately and put an end to the persistent discrimination faced by the Nursing fraternity of Jammu and Kashmir.
The post J&K Committee of AIRNF demands cadre restructuring pay-scale correction in UT appeared first on Daily Excelsior.