Himachal Pradesh High Court
State Of Himachal Pradesh & Others vs Sh. Sant Ram & Another on 7 October, 2023
Bench: Mamidanna Satya Ratna Sri Ramachandra Rao, Ajay Mohan Goel
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA LPA No.:153 of 2023 Reserved on: 20.09.2023.
Decided on: 07.10.2023 State of Himachal Pradesh & others .... Appellants.
of
Versus
Sh. Sant Ram & another .... Respondents.
Coram
rt
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao, Chief Justice.
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1 For the appellants : Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General, with Mr. Rakesh Dhaulta, Mr. Pranay Pratap Singh, Additional Advocate Generals and Mr. Arsh Rattan, Mr. Sidharth Jalta, Deputy Advocate Generals.
For the respondents: Mr. C.N. Singh, Advocate.
Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge By way of this appeal, the appellants have challenged judgment dated 06.09.2022, passed by the learned Single Judge in CWPOA No.3562 of 2019, titled as Sh. Sant Ram and another vs. State of Himachal Pradesh and others, vide which learned Single Judge has allowed the case of the respondents herein and directed the appellants to grant work charge status to the petitioners therein on completion of 1 Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
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eight years of continuous daily wage service commencing from 01.01.1997 and thereafter regularize their services with all consequential benefits at par with similarly situated persons in other Departments of the State Government by restricting the entitlement for of monetary benefits to three years from the date immediately preceding the date of filing of the petition.
2. rt Brief facts necessary for the adjudication of this appeal are that the respondents/ petitioners (hereinafter to be referred as the 'petitioners') filed a writ petition, inter alia, praying for the following reliefs:-
" i) Issue a writ of Mandamus or other appropriate writ order or direction directing the respondents to grant work charge status after completion of eight years of regular daily wage service i.e. 1.1.2005 and regularized the service of petitioners with all consequential benefits.
ii) Issue a writ of Mandamus or other appropriate writ order or direction directing the respondents, to regularize the service of petitioners after completion of eight years of regular daily wage service by observing the petitioner permanently in the department or in the project as done in the past."
3. Their case was that they were engaged on daily wage ::: Downloaded on - 07/10/2023 20:35:50 :::CIS 3 .
basis as Class-IV employees in the Integrated Water Shed Development Project, Kandi (Hills) in the year 1996, which was under
the Forest Department. In the year 2005, said project ended and a new project, namely, Mid Himalayan Watershed Development Project came of into existence and continued upto to the year 2016. Some of the employees of the Integrated Watershed Development Project, Kandi rt (Hills) were adjusted in the different departments alongwith seniority and others including the petitioners were adjusted in the Mid Himalayan Watershed Development Project. The petitioners after their adjustment in the Mid Himalayan Watershed Development Project continued to serve as such. They have completed 240 days in each calendar year w.e.f. 1997 in the said Project, which was a work charge establishment and therefore, they were entitled for the grant of work charge status after completion of eight years continuous service on daily wage basis as per the policy of the State Government w,.e.f.
01.01.2005. It was further their case that persons similarly situated were regularized by the respondent/Department. In Para-7 of the petition, it was specifically stated that the persons like Jagat Singh Negi, Vinay Kumar, Shyam Lal, Yog Raj, Ram Krishan, Ram Lal, Devender Singh and Liaquat Ali stood regularized by the respondents ::: Downloaded on - 07/10/2023 20:35:50 :::CIS 4 .
either in the Government departments or in some Projects.
Accordingly, the petitioners prayed for the reliefs already mentioned hereinabove, on the ground that act of the department of not conferring the work charge status upon them and regularizing their services in of terms of the policy of the State Government was bad in law.
4. The claim of the petitioners was resisted by the rt respondent-Department, which in terms of the reply filed by to the writ petition took the stand that initially the petitioners were engaged as daily wage workers in the Integrated Watershed Development Project, Kandi (Hills) and thereafter, they were adjusted in H.P. Mid Himalayan Watershed Development Project, which came into existence w.e.f.
01.10.2005 on the culmination of the earlier project. Said project was functioning with the financial aid of the World Bank, in which, the share of the State Government was 20% and the Forest Department was only a nodal agency, whereas Animal Husbandary, Horticulture, Agriculture and Rural Development Departments were the line Departments. As there were no posts of daily wagers in the said project, therefore, the petitioners were neither entitled for conferment of work-
charge status nor regularization.
5. Learned Single Judge vide judgment dated 06.09.2022 ::: Downloaded on - 07/10/2023 20:35:50 :::CIS 5 .
allowed the writ petition by holding that though the initial recruitment of the petitioners was under a specific project, nevertheless the project was for a specific purpose and was an initiative of the Government itself. Learned Single Judge also held that only because the funding of of the project to a large extent was by the World Bank, on this ground, it could not be said that the project was alien to the State Government as rt it was under the aegis of the State Government that the project was functioning. Learned Single Judge also held that once the Department had regularized the services of various other employees, who were initially engaged under the project in issue, then the petitioners could not be singled out for the purpose of discrimination, as the State has to act as a model employer in a welfare State. Learned Single Judge also observed that the appellants had not specifically denied that persons similarly situated as the petitioners were not only regularized, but also conferred work charge status after regularization in terms of the policies framed by the State from time to time and merely because the petitioners were employed under the project, denial of similar benefits to the petitioners was wholly unjustifiable. Learned Single Judge also observed that it was admitted by the appellants in the reply filed to the Writ petition that some persons initially employed in the projects in ::: Downloaded on - 07/10/2023 20:35:50 :::CIS 6 .
issue, were adjusted and regularized either in the project or other departments, but the claim of the petitioners was being resisted on the ground that their job was co-terminus with the department. By assigning said reasoning, learned Single Judge allowed the petition in of terms already mentioned hereinabove.
6. Having heard learned Advocate General as well as rt learned counsel for the respondents and having carefully perused the judgment passed by the learned Single Judge as well as the writ record, we do not find any infirmity in the judgment under challenge.
7. The petitioners were claiming parity vis-a-vis similarly situated persons, whose details were given in Para-7 of the petition, for the purpose of conferment of work-charge status and regularization. To substantiate their contention, the petitioners appended with the petition as Annexure P-4 (Colly), the orders of regularization of some of the persons similarly situated as the petitioners. There are on record of the writ file order dated 23.07.1999, in terms whereof, one Shri Yog Raj was regularized and appointed as regular Chowkidar w.e.f. 23.06.1999 in the office of Assistant Project Director, Integrated Watershed Development Project, Kandi (Hills) area, Una; order dated 29.07.1999, in terms whereof, one Shri Ram Krishan was regularized as a regular ::: Downloaded on - 07/10/2023 20:35:50 :::CIS 7 .
Chowkidar again in the office of Assistant Project Director, Integrated Watershed Development Project, Kandi (Hills) area, Una, H.P.; Copy of proceedings of the Screening Committee, which recommended the regularization of one Shri Shri Ram Lal, son of Birju Lal, who had of served in Kandi Project and was thereafter, serving in MHWD Project;
and copy of order dated 14.01.1998, in terms whereof, one Shri rt Devender Singh was regularized against the post of Peon by the order of Assistant Project Director, Integrated Watershed Development Project (Hills), Kandi, area, Nahan, H.P. Incidently, all these orders of regularization were passed by the officers of the respondent/ Forest Department, which is not in dispute.
8. Not only this, in reply to Para-7 of the writ petition, the Department admitted the regularization of the persons named therein, but insisted that daily wage employees have to go alongwith the closing of the project and no vested right is created in their favour.
9. In light of the material which was on record before the learned Single Judge, it was rightly held by the learned Single Judge that as the appellants had regularized the services of the employees similarly situated as the petitioners as well as those working in special projects, therefore, different yardsticks could not be adopted for the ::: Downloaded on - 07/10/2023 20:35:50 :::CIS 8 .
petitioners. As the findings returned by the learned Single Judge are duly borne out from the writ record and as during the hearing of the appeal, it could not be demonstrated that the findings in the judgment under challenge were perverse and contrary to the record, we see no of reason to interfere therewith, as we are also satisfied that the petitioners indeed were discriminated in the matter of conferment of work charge rt status as well as regularization vis-a-vis similarly situated persons by the appellants.
10. Accordingly, in view of the above observations, as we do not find any merit in the present appeal, the same is dismissed. Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, stand disposed of.
(M.S. Ramachandra Rao) Chief Justice (Ajay Mohan Goel) Judge October 07, 2023 (rishi) ::: Downloaded on - 07/10/2023 20:35:50 :::CIS