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CWP No. 18619 of 2011 and connected cases -14- To the reply which has been filed by the respondents, it has been asserted that the petitioners have been appointed through the Service Providers and, therefore, are not the employees of the Excise and Taxation department. The appointment letter, which has been appended with the writ petition, is not a complete document. As a matter of fact, material facts have been withheld by the respondents, according to which, a declaration was submitted by the petitioners that they were deployed by their employer who was the Service Provider in pursuance to the contract entered into between his employer and the respondents. An undertaking was also given that they would not make any claim whatsoever in any forum against the Department of Excise and Taxation, Punjab or the Excise and Taxation Technical Services Agency (in short ETTSA)-respondent No. 5 or M/s CMC Limited who had entered into an agreement with the Service Provider. The claim of the petitioners for regularization as per the policies dated 18.3.2011 and 17.11.2011 has been denied on the ground that the petitioners do not fall within the said policy decisions and their claim is not covered by the same and, therefore, their services cannot be regularized.

Reply has been filed by ETTSA-respondent No. 5 wherein it has been stated that the said Society was set up and got registered by the Government of Punjab in December, 2001 for providing technical and IT services as also computerization to the Department of Excise and Taxation, Punjab. It has been helping computerization of various offices, Information Collection Centres apart from providing various other technical services to the department as and when required. In the year, 2003, requirement was felt for computerization of Sales Tax Information System on higher skill and, therefore, tenders were invited and an agreement was entered between the CWP No. 18619 of 2011 and connected cases -15- ETTSA and M/s CMC Limited appointing M/s CMC Limited as System Integrated for computerization of Sales Tax Information System which was with with the introduction of the Value Added Tax (in short 'VAT') converted into computerization of VAT Information System in April 2005. This agreement broadly provided for supply of hardware, software, networking of various offices and Information Collection Centres, data entry etc. The total cost of the project was estimated at Rs. 45 crores spread over a period of five years. Duration of the contract has been extended from time to time and the latest extension comes to an end on 31.12.2012. The CMC Limited had further sublet the work of data entry to a company, namely, 'The Providers' sub vendor. Since the contract with CMC Limited was coming to an end and there was requirement for further advanced hardware and software for handling of huge information being generated and faster networking, tenders were invited and a contract was given to Wipro Limited for computerization of Tax Information System, which was signed on 16.2.2011. Wipro Limited is in the process of taking over of the project in stages which has spread over a period of five years.

The work of Data Entry Operator is to feed information as supplied by transports at Information Collection Centres with respect to material coming in and going out of the State. With the development of web services and internet, Electronic Information Collection Centres (in short 'E- ICCs) have been introduced which facilitates the transporters to generate information at their own end and supply the same at the ICC to the officials posted therein. Now, the transporters are not required to stop their vehicles at the ICCs for getting their information entered in the computer with the help of CWP No. 18619 of 2011 and connected cases -16- data entry operators. The work of data entry thus, has been substantially reduced by approximately 65 per cent. Over a period of time, the requirement of data entry operators has come down from 370 to 232 which will be further reduced with more and more transporters, opting for EICCS. An objection has been raised by the respondent by asserting that the writ petition deserves to be dismissed for non-joinder of necessary parties as neither 'The Providers' nor the 'CMC Limited' have been made parties who would be the Service Providers and the appointment of the petitioners being through them, there is no relationship of employer employee between the petitioners and respondents. Prayer has thus, been made for dismissal of the writ petition.

So far as the petitioners in the writ petitions pertaining to the Department of Excise and Taxation, Punjab, is concerned, the specific stand of the respondents is that there is no sanctioned post of Data Entry Operators in the Department of Excise and Taxation, Punjab. Further, the petitioners are employees of sub vendor, i.e. 'The Providers' of vendor 'M/s CMC Limited'. With the coming into effect of Electronic Information Collection Centres as has been referred to above in detail, the requirement of Data Entry Operators has come down to 65%. Proposal was for shutting down the data entry work of six ICCs, namely, Amritsar Railway Station, Boha, Chak Sadhu, Mullanpur, Rajpura and Talwara with effect from 1.8.2012 as daily transaction of data entry in these centres were 50 or less. Since the stay has been granted by this Court, the petitioners are being retained in those centres. It has further been stated that the officials of the Department of Excise and Taxation, Punjab, had no role to play in selection or recruitment of the writ petitioners by the service CWP No. 18619 of 2011 and connected cases -20- providers. These facts further dis-entitled the claim as has been made by the petitioners in the writ petitions.