The stay was granted yesterday by a division bench comprising Justice Usha Mehra and Justice Madan B Lokur on an appeal filed by the Centre against the CAT order.

The CAT, while allowing a petition by Sushma Sharma, an assistant at director general (investigation) income tax, challenging the pay scales to the assistants in the ministries and subordinate offices, had ruled that the salary and other benefits to them should be equal.

The Government appeal filed through standing counsel V P Sharma challenged the CAT ruling on the ground that the nature of work assigned to assistants in the ministries was entirely different to those in subordinate offices.

Sharma, during arguments, said the assistants in the ministries were contributing to framing of the policy while their counterparts insubordinate offices were doing a routine work of implementing the decisions of the government.

The government said the recruitment procedure in both the cases was also different and the Fifth Pay Commission had recommended different pay scales to them.