1. Dispute over extension of benefits under a government resolution for daily wage workers and subsequent implementation of court-ordered regularisation and pay scales. (Para 2 , 3 , 5 )
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2019 Supreme(SC) 166
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
A.K. SIKRI, S. ABDUL NAZEER, M.R. SHAH, JJ.
THE STATE OF GUJARAT – APPELLANT(S)
Versus
PWD AND FOREST EMPLOYEES UNION AND OTHERS – RESPONDENT(S)
Civil Appeal Nos. 1684-1686 of 2019 (Arising Out of Special Leave Petition (C) No. 5028-5030 of 2019) arising Out of Diary No. 43592 of 2018) with Civil Appeal Nos. 1687-1689 of 2019 (Arising Out of Special Leave Petition (C) Nos. 5031-5033 of 2019) Arising Out of Diary No. 36182 of 2018)
Decided on : 15-02-2019
Important Points
IMPORTANT POINT
Daily wagers cannot be given pay scales which are even better than pay scales given to regularly appointed employees.
Daily wagers cannot be given pay scales which are even better than pay scales given to regularly appointed employees.
Subject
Contempt of Court - Compliance with Court Order
Act Referred
Headnote
Service Law – Service Benefits – Parity – Daily wagers – Members of respondent union were all engaged on daily wage basis – Appellant Government decided to confer certain benefits upon these daily wage workers depending upon number of years of service they put in – Under certain circumstances, on completion of specified number of years of service on daily wage basis, these daily wage workers are entitled to become permanent – On attaining status of permanency/regular employees, they become at par with those employees who were appointed on permanent basis from beginning, after undergoing proper selection procedure on proving their merit – These daily wagers cannot be given pay scales which are even better than pay scales given to regularly appointed employees – On becoming permanent, such daily wagers can, at the most, claim that they be fitted in job descriptions in terms of said pay rules and their pay be fixed accordingly – Respondents workers who have been working on daily wage basis cannot be given casual leave which is more than entitlement extended to regular Government employees – GR dated October 17, 1988 which provides for 14 days casual leave including 2 days of voluntary/optional leave is result of inadvertent transaction error – Even otherwise, casual leave for daily wagers cannot be more than regular Government employees – Respondents employees shall be entitled to 12 days of casual leave and 2 days of voluntary leave/restricted leave – Benefits payable to members of respondents union shall now be worked out and same be paid to them. (Paras 13 to 17)
Facts of Case:
Appellant Government had passed Resolution dated October 17, 1988 whereby certain benefits were given to its daily wageworkers who have been working for number of years. Respondent Union, which represent those workers, had approached High Court for direction to extend those benefits contained in Government Resolution (GR) dated October 17, 1988. Since this GR dated October 17, 1988 was not extended to Forest Department of the appellant to which Department the respondents belong, respondents had filed writ petition in High Court seeking extension of GR dated October 17, 1988 in respect of Forest Department as well. This writ petition was allowed by Single Judge of High Court vide order dated March 21, 1997. Letter Patents Appeal (LPA) was preferred against said judgment which was dismissed by Division Bench of High Court on April 29, 2003. Special Leave Petition (SLP) there against was also dismissed by this Court on November 29, 2004.
Findings of Court:
Casual leave for daily wagers cannot be more than regular Government employees. We hold that respondents employees shall be entitled to 12 days of casual leave and 2 days of voluntary leave/restricted leave. Benefits payable to the members of respondents union shall now be worked out and same be paid to them. Exercise in this behalf shall be completed within a period of two months from the date of this judgment. Impugned judgment of High Court is modified and appeals are allowed to that extent.
Result : Appeal allowed.
Legal Category Hierarchy
Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellant : Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Ms. Jesal Wahi, Adv. Ms. Vishakha, Adv.
For the Respondent: Mr. J. P. Cama, Sr. Adv. Mr. D.P. Mohanty, Adv. Mr. Aditya Sharma, Adv. Mr. Manu Bajaj, Adv. M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR
For the Appellant : Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Ms. Jesal Wahi, Adv. Ms. Vishakha, Adv.
For the Respondent: Mr. J. P. Cama, Sr. Adv. Mr. D.P. Mohanty, Adv. Mr. Aditya Sharma, Adv. Mr. Manu Bajaj, Adv. M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR
Table of Contents
2. Whether the implementing government resolution deviated from the original benefit scheme and whether regularised workers are entitled to pay scales exceeding those of regularly appointed employees. (Para 7 , 12 )
3. Regularised daily wagers must be fitted into pay scales based on job descriptions under statutory rules and cannot receive benefits exceeding those of regularly appointed employees. (Para 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 )
4. Regularised employees' pay and benefits are governed by statutory service rules and cannot exceed the entitlements of employees appointed through regular selection procedures. (Para 13 , 16 )
5. Appeals allowed to the extent of modifying the High Court order to align benefits with statutory rules and specific cut-off dates for pension schemes. (Para 17 )
6. Can regularised daily wagers claim pay scales higher than regularly appointed employees?
No. Regularised daily wagers must be fitted into job descriptions according to statutory pay rules. They cannot be granted pay scales superior to those given to employees appointed through proper selection procedures on merit. (Para 13 )
7. How is the applicability of the old GPF/Pension scheme versus the New Pension Scheme (NPS/CPF) determined for regularised workers?
April 1, 2005, serves as the cut-off date. Workers entitled to regularisation or permanent status before this date receive GPF and old pension benefits, while those attaining status after this date are governed by the CPF/NPS. (Para 14 )
8. How should the length of service be calculated for granting benefits to daily wage workers?
Only those years in which the worker completed 240 days or more of service are taken into consideration, in accordance with the governing government resolution. (Para 15 )
9. Can regularised daily wagers be granted more casual leave than regular government employees?
No. Casual leave for regularised workers cannot exceed the entitlement of regular government employees, which is 12 days of casual leave and 2 days of voluntary or restricted leave. (Para 16 )
JUDGMENT
A.K.Sikri. J.
Leave granted.
2. In these appeals filed by the State of Gujarat, challenge is laid to the common judgment dated June 14, 2018 passed by the High Court of Gujarat in contempt proceedings which were initiated by the respondents herein. To mention here, in nutshell, the appellant Government had passed Resolution dated October 17, 1988 whereby certain benefits were given to its daily wageworkers, who have been working for number of years. The respondent Union, which represent those workers, had approached the High Court for direction to extend those benefits contained in Government Resolution (GR) dated October 17, 1988. Since this GR dated October 17, 1988 was not extended to the Forest Department of the appellant, to which Department the respondents belong, the respondents had filed writ petition in the High Court seeking extension of GR dated October 17, 1988 in respect of Forest Department as well. This writ petition was allowed by the single Judge of the High Court vide order dated March 21, 1997. Letter Patents Appeal (LPA) was preferred against the said judgment which was dismissed by the Division Bench of the High Court on April 29, 2003. Special Leave Petition (SLP) there against was also dismissed by this Court on November 29, 2004.
3. Thereafter, appellant passed another GR dated March 24, 2006 in respect of Road and Building Department for determining pensionable service in cases of daily wagers having attained permanency on account of application of GR dated October 17, 1988. However, this representation was dismissed by the appellant on May 3, 2008. Respondents again approached the High Court against the dismissal of the said representation which was decided by the High Court on October 29, 2010. By means of said order, High Court directed the Forest and Environment Department of the appellant to consider the case of the daily wagers of the respondent union for regularisation/conferring permanent status, afresh and also to consider framing of a scheme for giving quasi permanent status to such workers at par with the scheme for daily wagers in other Departments. This was followed by another order dated August 25, 2011 passed in Miscellaneous Civil Application whereby High Court directed the appellant to frame a scheme for giving quasi permanent status to daily wagers in compliance with its earlier judgment dated October 29, 2010. LPA against this judgment was dismissed by the High Court on February 28, 2012. The appellant challenged the order in LPA by preferring SLP in this Court. Leave was granted and ultimately appeal was heard and decided on July 9, 2013 which is reported as State of Gujarat & Ors. v. PWD Employees Union & Ors, (2013) 12 SCC 417. In this judgment, this Court inter alia gave the following directions:
"28. Thus, the principal question that falls to be considered in these appeals is: whether in the facts and circumstances it will be desirable for the Court to direct the appellants to straightaway regularise the services of all the daily-wage workers working for more than five years or the daily-wage workers working for more than five years are entitled for some other relief?
29. As per the scheme contained in the Resolution dated 17-10-1988 all the daily-wage workers were not entitled for regularisation or permanency in the services. As per the said Resolution the daily wagers are entitled to the following benefits:
"(i) They are entitled to daily wages as per the prevailing daily wages. If there is presence of more than 240 days in first year, daily wagers are eligible for paid Sunday, medical allowance and national festival holidays.
(ii) Daily wagers and semi-skilled workers who have service of more than five years and less than 10 years are entitled for fixed monthly salary along with dearness allowance as per prevailing standard, for his working days. Such daily wagers will get two optional leaves in addition to 14 miscellaneous leaves, Sunday leave and national festival holidays
