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D.K. JAIN, J.:

1. Challenge in these appeals, by special leave, is to the judgments and orders dated 27th March, 2001 and 22nd January, 2003 delivered by a Division Bench of the Gauhati High Court at Guwahati in Writ Appeal No. 548 of 1996 whereby it has directed appellant No.1 viz. Union of India to regularize the services of the members of the respondent Union, employed by the Border Roads Organization (for short the "BRO"), as postulated in Office Memo No. Sectt. BRDB ID No. BRDB/04(90)/99-

GE-II dated 2nd February, 2001. Appellants No. 2 to 17 are the functionaries of appellant No. 1.

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2. Shorn of unnecessary details, the facts essential for adjudication of the present appeals may be stated as follows:

The respondent is a registered trade union comprising of casual workers employed by the BRO, in terms of paragraph 503 of the Border Road Regulations (for short "the Regulations"), some of whom have been working with the BRO for the last thirty years. In the year 1993, the respondent filed a writ petition before the Gauhati High Court praying for issuance of a writ, inter-alia, directing appellant No.1 to regularize the services of the members of the respondent.

3. Vide judgment dated 27th August, 1996, the High Court allowed the writ petition, and directed appellant No.1 to regularize the services of the members of the respondent who have been in service for more than five years, within six months of the date of order.

4. Being aggrieved, appellants filed a writ appeal before a Division Bench of the Gauhati High Court. The Division Bench, while partly allowing the appeal, modified the order of the Single Judge on the basis of a circular dated 25th May, 1988 issued by one Brig. S.K. Mehta, D.D.G. (P&V), for and on behalf of the Director General Border Roads, New Delhi to all Chief Engineers for consideration of regularization of casually paid labourers employed by the BRO. The Division Bench held that:

10.We have heard learned counsel for parties and perused the documents/circulars referred to and relied upon by the High Court as also some office notings produced before us by learned counsel appearing for the appellants.

11. Mr. Vivek Tankha, the learned Additional Solicitor General of India, strenuously urged that the High Court committed serious error in law in treating communication dated 2nd February 2001, as a final scheme framed for regularization of the casual labourers engaged by BRO for a maximum period of 6 months at a time. According to the learned counsel, it is evident from communication dated 2nd February 2001, that as on that date the Border Roads Development Board was still in the process of collecting information from other departments of the Central Government, particularly from the Railways for the purpose of examining if any of such schemes could be adopted in the BRO. In support of his stand that so far no scheme for absorption or regularization of casual labourers had been devised, learned counsel placed before us some correspondence exchanged between the Headquarters of the Border Roads Development Board and the office of the Director General Border Roads, which shows that in view of the guidelines issued by the DOPT, it has not been possible to frame and implement any policy or scheme for regularization of muster roll working in BRO. It was asserted that circular dated 25th May 1988, on which emphasis is laid on behalf of the respondent, was merely a proposal which has been misconstrued by the High Court as a scheme. It was urged that the proposals or suggestions by the field officers in favour of the respondent Union did not result in creating any enforceable right in their favour. Placing reliance on the decision of this Court in Indian Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Vs. Workmen, Indian Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd.1, learned counsel submitted that formulation of any scheme for regularization being a matter of policy, it is not within the domain of the court to direct regularization of temporary appointees in the absence or dehors the recruitment rules.