IMPORTANT POINT
Contract labourers are not entitled to benefits under G.O.Ms.No.286 due to their employment status and lack of direct employer-employee relationship.

ORDER :

Harinath. N., J.

The petitioners are seeking the extension of benefit of G.O.Ms.No.286, dated 08.10.2008. The said GO is issued extending the monetary benefits equivalent to the time scale to all NMRs working before the cutoff date of 25.11.1993.

2. The petitioners are working as Farm Labour and they are working with the respondent No.2 prior to 25.11.1993. All the petitioners were in service as casual farm labour till January, 1996. The petitioners were engaged under the name of a Contract Labour thereafter. The 1st respondent issued GOMs.No.286, dated 08.10.2008 granting minimum time scale + DA + HRA.

3. The respondents did not extend the benefit of the said GO to several NMR workers though they were working before the cutoff date i.e., 25.11.1993. The respondents have taken a stand that there were breaks in services of the employees and denied extension of the benefits under GOMs.No.286, dated 08.10.2008. Several employees approached this Court in a batch of writ petitions WP.No.28438 of 2008 and batch and WP.No.5650 of 2009. This Court vide order dated 06.07.2012 considered the case of the petitioners therein and held that the action of the respondents was not legal in denying the benefit of the GO to the petitioners therein on account of the deliberately set up artificial breaks in the service.

4. The learned counsel for petitioners submits that the respondents have implemented the judgment passed in the batch of writ petitions to all the petitioners therein on 09.11.2012. It is also submitted that the petitioners stand on the similar footing, however, the petitioners could not approach this Court on account of their financial constraints at that point of time.

5. The non-extension of the benefit of GOMS.No.286 to the petitioners selectively ignoring them and extending the benefit of the GO to only of those employees who approached the Court is challenged as an arbitrary act by the learned counsel for the petitioners.

6. The respondent Nos.2 and 3 in their counter submit that all the petitioners were engaged as casual labour in the year 1993. It is stated that all the petitioners seized to function as casual labour with effect from 30.06.1995. The learned standing counsel for the 2nd respondent submits that the 1st respondent has issued GOMs.No.212, dated 22.04.1994 facilitating regularization and absorption of daily wage/NMR or consolidated pay workers. The condition precedent for regularization of NMR/daily wage workers was that they should have work for a continuous period of five years and continuing as on 25.11.1993. It is submitted that several NMR workers/casual labour could not be regularized due to nonavailability of sanctioned posts. It is also stated that the 2nd respondent has not sanctioned minimum time scale to some of the casual labourers who were already working as casual labour and who were on the muster rolls as on the date of issue of GO due to break in service in the past.

7. The learned standing counsel for the 2nd respondent submits that the petitioners cannot seek applicability of the judgment passed by this Court in WP.No.5650 of 2009 and batch. It is submitted that minimum time scale was extended only to those employees who were on muster rolls as on 08.10.2008. It is submitted that the petitioners are contract labour working under a contractor and it is the contractor who deploys them in different institutions wherever there is a requirement of work. As such, the claim of petitioners for extension of time scale for employees working under a contractor ought not to be considered. Reliance is placed on the extract of the ledger of Employees Provident Fund Organization wherein the establishment Globe Detective Private Agency Private Limited has been complying the relevant provisions of the Provident Fund Act. The 2nd respondent also places reliance on an agreement dated 01.11.2017 entered between the 2nd respondent and Globle Detective Agency Private Limited. An agreement dated 04.10.2023 entered be