In Brief
The Director General of CRPF appealed against an order granting Special (Duty) Allowance to pharmacists posted in the North Eastern Region. The CRPF argued the allowance should only be paid from August 2005 (when clarified by Government order), not from the date of original posting. The Supreme Court held that the original classification denying the allowance to personnel with headquarters outside the North Eastern Region (even if posted there) violated Article 14's equality guarantee—there was no intelligible differentia supporting it. Since the classification itself was unconstitutional and arbitrary, the benefit was payable from the actual date of posting, not from the 2005 clarification. Appeal dismissed.
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