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It is also not in dispute that the services of said daily wagers varied from period to period. Nand Kumar, appellant, was appointed as an Accounts Clerk on daily wage basis on September 18, 1982. Similarly, others (appellants in civil appeals arising out of SLP [C] Nos.8865- 66/2010, 10876/2010, 20833-20835/2010 and 30317/2010) were also appointed, from time to time, and served as daily wagers. It is not in dispute that some of the appellants received monthly salary in the minimum pay scale with usual allowances.

11. Our attention has already been drawn by the learned senior counsel to the report of the three Member Committee constituted in terms of section 6(ii) of the Repeal Act which recommended the termination of services of all illegal and irregular employees and was submitted to the Government recommending absorption of only regular employees in para 3.1 and further recommended for termination of daily wagers in para 3.6 of the said report.

12. It is submitted by the appellants that the appellants who have been working for more than 25 years getting regular pay scales and work against the vacant sanctioned posts cannot be treated as ordinary daily wage employees. The provision in the Section 6 of the Repeal Act deals with “all officers and employees” which includes the daily wagers and section 6 of the Repeal Act also provide that all officers of the Board shall remain in employment as if the Act has not been repealed and they would continue on the basis of the regular pay scale, dearness pay and dearness allowances. Therefore, it is submitted by the appellants that the rights of all employees working were adequately protected in the said section 6 of the Repeal Act.

16. Per contra, it was submitted by counsel appearing on behalf of the State that the words “absorption, retirement, compulsory retirement or voluntary retirement” used in Section 6 of the Repeal Act, 2006 have been used with reference to only the permanent employees of the Board. That absorption in the present case does not mean regularisation. It is further submitted that all the appellants worked on daily wage basis and had not been regularised till the date of repeal of the said Act. It is further submitted that with undoing of the establishment, there is no regulation of the market and as such there is no procurement of revenue. In these circumstances, there cannot be any scope for regularisation. He further pointed out that the daily wagers are engaged in view of work exigencies prevailing in the establishment but in the event of dissolution of the establishment, there cannot be any work exigency. He further submitted that regularisation is not a matter of course, it has to follow the mode of recruitment. The Committee constituted under Section 6 of the Repeal Act duly examined the cases of daily wagers and clause 3.1 of the Resolution prepared by the Market Committee clearly states that any appointment without recommendation or proper authority will be considered as illegal and irregular. It is pointed out that engagement of the appellants was without following any norms and in violation of the rules of recruitment and principles of equality. Accordingly, he submitted that Section 6 of the Repeal Act, 2006 has a provision for protection of permanent employees and not daily wage employees, and such a provision is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. The daily wagers constitute a class within themselves and all the daily wagers have been retrenched and not even a single one has been retained in these cases.

21. Therefore, in the light of the said provision, we do not find that the Committee of Secretaries can be faulted in treating the daily wage employees on a different footing and deciding for removal of their services.

22. We have consciously noted the aforesaid decisions of this Court. The principle as has been laid down in Umadevi (supra) has also been applied in relation to the persons who were working on daily wages. According to us, the daily wagers are not appointees in the strict sense of the term ‘appointment’. They do not hold a post. The scheme of alternative appointment framed for regular employees of abolished organisation cannot, therefore, confer a similar entitlement on the daily wagers of abolished organisation to such alternative employment. [See Avas Vikas Sansthan v. Avas Vikas Sansthan Engineers Association (2006 (4) SCC 132)]. Their relevance in the context of appointment arose by reason of the concept of regularisation as a source of appointment. After Umadevi (supra), their position continued to be that of daily wagers. Appointment on daily wage basis is not an appointment to a post according to the rules. Usually, the projects in which the daily wagers were engaged, having come to an end, their appointment is necessarily terminated for want of work. Therefore, the status and rights of daily wagers of a Government concern are not equivalent to that of a Government servant and his claim to permanency has to be adjudged differently.