JUDGMENT :

DHANANJAYA Y. CHANDRACHUD, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This batch of appeals arises from a judgment and order dated 15 March 2011 of a Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana.

3. For convenience of reference, the facts as they emerged in the lead Civil Appeal [C.A. No. 6026-6028/2021 and SLP (C) Nos. 14029-14031/2011] may be set out.

4. The appellants were appointed as clerks in 1975-1976 in the Punjab Civil Secretariat on an ad-hoc basis. On 3 May 1977, their services were regularized with effect from 1 April 1977 pursuant to a policy of regularization. The policy of regularization notes that in anticipation of regular appointments, ad-hoc appointments were resorted to by various appointing authorities in “administrative interest” after notifying the vacancies to the employment exchange or, as the case may be, by issuing advertisements. Since the ad-hoc employees had acquired experience, and their ouster after a considerable period of service would entail hardship, their services were regularized, subject to certain terms and conditions. Clause (5) of the policy on regularization contained the following stipulations:

“5. The seniority of the ad-hoc employees whose