The court ruled that longstanding contractual employees are entitled to remuneration enhancement and consideration for regularization based on principles established in Supreme Court cases addressing employee rights.

JUDGMENT :

Om Narayan Rai, J.

1. The case run in the writ petition is that petitioners are drivers who had been engaged in terms of the Rashtriya Sama Vikash Yojana (RSVY) scheme as contractual employees. While the petitioner nos.1, 6, 7 and 8 had been engaged with effect from December 1, 2004, the petitioner nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 had been engaged with effect from January 25, 2005.

2. Although the petitioners were engaged as drivers under the District Welfare Health and Family Welfare Samity, Jalpaiguri in terms of the said RSVY scheme for three years, on contract basis, in terms of the order issued by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Jalpaiguri, yet since the RSVY scheme got terminated on March 31, 2007 i.e. before completion of three years, the petitioners were placed under the Motor Mechanical Unit under the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Jalpaiguri for a period of three years beginning April 1, 2007. It is the petitioners’ case that since April 2007 the petitioners have been rendering continuous service.

3. Under the RSVY scheme, the petitioners were paid only Rs.3000/- per month but subsequently, as per the resolution adopted in the 11th Governing Body Meeting of the District Health and Family Welfare Samity (DH and FW Samity), Jalpaiguri the petitioners’ remuneration was enhanced to Rs.8000/- per month with effect from May 1, 2010 as would be evident from the letter dated April 30, 2010 issued by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Jalpaiguri and Secretary, District Welfare Health and Family Welfare Samity, Jalpaiguri, to the District Magistrate, Jalpaiguri..

4. Subsequently, upon receipt of a suggestion from the District Magistrate, Jalpaiguri for enhancement of the remuneration of the drivers (including the petitioners), the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Jalpaiguri on January 14, 2011 wrote to the Mission Director (NRHM) & Commissioner (FW) informing the Mission Director that the petitioners along with other drivers were being paid from of the corpus fund of the District Welfare Health and the District Welfare Health and Family Welfare Samity, Jalpaiguri and the said Samity did not have sufficient funds to support such enhancement. Request was made for the District Magistrate, Jalpaiguri to take appropriate steps to “solve the problem”.

5. This was followed by another communication dated September 6, 2012 issued by the Chief Medical Officer of Health and Secretary, DH & FW Samity, Jalpaiguri which, inter alia, indicated that out of 53 sanctioned posts for drivers, 29 were lying vacant in the District of Jalpaiguri as on that date. The said letter mentioned the details of 14 contractually engaged RSVY drivers which included the names of the petitioners and recommended for early action in view of the fact that the said drivers demanded enhancement of remuneration and absorption in the department as permanent drivers (Annexure- P4 at page 30 of the writ petition). Copy of the said communication was also marked to the Director of Health Services, West Bengal.

6. Thereafter on April 24, 2017, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Jalpaiguri followed the matter up with the Director of Health Services, West Bengal referring to an earlier letter dated April 21, 2017 written to the same addressee and requested him to consider the issues of according permanent status of service and enhancement of remuneration (in terms of the Finance Department (Audit Branch) Memo dated February 25, 2016) of the 14 drivers whose names had been mentioned in the earlier communication be. A similar recommendation was also made by the said Chief Medical Officer of health to the Special Secretary, T.D.E Branch by a letter