Srinagar, Aug 30 (SocialNews.XYZ) A division bench of the J&K and Ladakh High Court has refused to extend the benefit under SRO 520 to scores of daily wagers who had been working in the Power Development Department (PDD).
A total of 179 daily wagers working in the PDD approached the court pleading that their names had been excluded from the list of 472 PDLs/TDLs prepared for consideration of regularisation under SRO 520 of 2017 by the department.
The petitioners claimed that they had been engaged as daily rated workers between 2012 and 2015, i.e., before the imposition of a ban on fresh engagement of daily wagers with effect from March 17, 2015.
According to the officials, their names figured in some earlier lists prepared by the department but were subsequently excluded from the list of 472 PDLs/TDLs prepared for consideration of regularisation under SRO 520 of 2017.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani on Saturday dismissed their plea by recording that they have failed to prove before the court that they were engaged before the ban; as such, a preliminary or provisional inclusion in a departmental list, by itself, cannot confer any right to regularisation when the requirement of engagement before the cut-off date remains unestablished.
"The respondents have explained that, upon verification, the persons included in the final list are found to have been engaged prior to the imposition of ban on fresh engagement of daily wagers with effect from 17.03.2015. We also find no merit in the contention that the respondents could not have prepared the subsequent list or tentative seniority list during the pendency of the appellants' claim. The entitlement of the appellants depended clearly upon their establishing that they have been engaged prior to 17.03.2015," reads the judgment, which was uploaded on Sunday.
The court said that unless they establish that they were engaged before the ban, they cannot claim any right to be included in the list or to consider their cases for regularisation. The entire claim of the appellants rests on the assertion that they have been engaged before March 17, 2015.
However, that assertion was not established by any reliable material. On the contrary, Additional Advocate General Shahbaz Sikander submitted that the Inquiry Committee, after examining the relevant departmental records, has recorded a finding against the appellants-daily wagers. The said finding has neither been shown to be perverse or arbitrary nor demonstrated to be contrary to the record.
"In these circumstances, no mandamus could have been issued in favour of the appellants. We find that the writ court has considered the matter in its proper perspective and has committed no error of law or fact warranting interference by us in these intra-Court appeals. For the foregoing reasons, we find no merit in these appeals. The appeals are, accordingly, dismissed," the court held.
The court further added that it was conscious of the fact that muster rolls and other departmental records ordinarily remain in the custody of the department and may not be readily available to employees.
"This, however, does not dispense with the requirement of establishing the fact that the appellants have been engaged prior to the cut-off date," the court said.
"Once the respondents specifically disputed the appellants' claim of engagement before 17.03.2015, it is incumbent upon the appellants to place before the Court some reliable material in support of their claim. No such material has been placed on record," read the judgment.
The government, vide its Order No. 43-F of 2015 dated March 17, 2015, imposed a ban on the fresh engagement of daily-wage workers, with effect from the date of issuance of the said Government Order. Consequently, a person claiming the benefit of the regularisation policy was required, in the first instance, to establish that his engagement had been made prior to the said cut-off date.
Source: IANS
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