The Andhra Pradesh government told the state high court on Tuesday that there is absolutely no reduction in salaries of the employees in January compared to December; instead, there is an increase in the gross and net salaries.
Advocate General Subrahmanyam Sriram told the court that the government had not resorted to any recovery of previous dues. The salary slips clearly show that there is an increase in the salaries of the staff.
The petitioners contended that there is a reduction in their salary after the new PRC came into effect, as the government sought to recover the excess amounts paid by them since the date the pay revision has been made effective.
The AG contended that there is no such thing as recovery. He said the petitioner might be apprehensive that due to downward revision of their House Rent Allowance (HRA), the government will recover that amount from them.
"Further all the aspects have been so adjusted to ensure that there is no possibility of the salary drawn by the employee in January being lower than the salary drawn in December,” he said, adding that the total package had been so arrived, including retrospective effect of implementation and monetary benefits being payable with effect from April 1, 2020.
The high court also made a series of observations about the strike. It said strike was not advisable when the matters were pending in the court.
“That amounts to putting pressure on the court for grant of relief,” the court said and added that it was also of the same view as observed by the Supreme Court that when the matters is pending in court, there should not be resort to strike.
