JUDGMENT :

Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J.

1. The Union of India has moved these proceedings aggrieved by a judgment of a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court dated 19 July, 2013.

2. The issue pertains to a direction for regularizing the services of eighteen respondents in Group ‘D’ posts at the Regional Training Institute at Allahabad [‘The Institute’]. The organization falls under the administrative control of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

3. The first round of proceedings was initiated on behalf of persons who had been engaged as Group ‘D’ workers on a casual basis at the Institute. The grievance before the Central Administrative Tribunal was that since 1986, the Institute had engaged casual workers and, despite long years of service, they had not been regularized. By the time the Tribunal delivered its judgment on 6 January, 2006, many of them had put in well over twelve years of service. While disposing of the Original Application [OA No 1191 of 2004], the Tribunal issued directions (i) mandating the preparation of a seniority list in accordance with the number of days worked; and (ii) for working out the possibility of regularizing the services of these casual