HC to government: Treat NPA of doctors as part of basic pay

AHMEDABAD: Bringing good news for doctors working in government hospitals during Diwali, as Gujarat high court has asked the state government to treat the Non Practising Allowance (NPA) as part of their basic pay and compute Dearness Allowance (DA) and pay them for the period between 2004 and 2009.

In 1965, the state government formed a policy to attract adequately qualified medical practitioners to government service and to stop them from indulging in private practice. It was decided to upgrade the post to give advance increments to the newcomers and also to give allowances for loss of private practice by extending NPA to them.

This provision was continued even after 1970, when the government made a few changes in pay structure. The NPA was indirectly merged with the basic pay for the purpose of computing TA and DA. Though the word 'allowance' was used, the amount was made part the basic pay with effect from 1986.

Later, in 2004-2005, the government decided to merge 50% of DA to basic pay to be treated as Dearness Pay and a certain percentage of NPA as Dearness Pay to compute DA. The doctors' associations moved the HC, which asked the doctors to make their representation before the government. In 2008, the government refused to restore the old position so far as NPA's inclusion in basic pay was concerned.

The issue came to the HC again and the state government opposed it and also submitted that after 2009, the NPA has been treated as part of the basic pay only to compute DA. This led Justice J B Pardiwala to observe, "The state government is incorrect in taking the view that the NPA is not a part of the Basic Pay, but is being taken into account only for the purpose of calculating the Dearness Allowance... I fail to understand why this objection is raised by the state government only for the period between 2004 and 2009."