The main legal principle established is the need to regularize the services of work charged employees in accordance with an approved scheme and to consider each case individually based on merit.

I.A. Ansari, J.

1. By this common judgment and order, I propose to dispose of the writ petition Nos. WP(C) 122 (AP) 2001, WP(C) 242 (AP) 2002 and WP(C) 385 (AP) 2002.

2. The writ petitioners in the present set of writ petitions have been working as work charged/casual employees in the Public Health Engineering Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh. The State of Arunachal Pradesh was, initially, a Union Territory. It had, initially, two major Public Works Departments, namely, Central Public Works Department, known as CPWD, and Agriculture Department. In course of time, the CPWD was replaced by Public Works Department, popularly known as PWD. Subsequently, the Public Works Department was bifurcated in Public Works Department and Power Department. Similarly the Agriculture Department was bifurcated into Agriculture Department and Rural Works Department. The Rural Works Department has been trifurcated in the year 1995, into three departments, namely, (i) Rural Works Department (hereinafter referred as "RWD") (ii) Irrigation and Flood Control Department (hereinafter referred as "IFCD") and (iii) Public Heath Engineering Department (hereinafter referred as "PHED").

3. In the year 1970, because of difficult terrains and lack of communication facilities, it was difficult to find people to work as labourers in the said departments and all the Public Works Departments including PHED, therefore, started engaging casual/non-regular workers for working at the work sites, of the projects undertaken by these Departments and those workers used to be paid from the funds ear-marked for the projects undertaken and not from the salary heads of the Government. This system gave birth to a new class of workers known as Work Charged workers or Work Charged employees. Even after the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh ceased to exist, the State of Arunachal Pradesh continued with the same system with slight modifications. In course of time, the Government of Arunachal Pradesh adopted the policy of regularising the services of all Work Charged workers/Work Charged employees from time to time against the sanctioned posts created for employing this class of workers. The present writ petitioners are all Work Charged/ Casual employees in PHED. In these Writ Petition Nos. WP(C) 122 (AP) 2001, WP(C) 242 (AP) 2002 and WP(C) 385 (AP) 2002, the petitioners therein approached this Court, when they were sought to be retrenched.

4. When the matter stood situated thus, the Department took up steps for preparing a Scheme for regularising the services of as many number of employees as financially feasible. The department concerned has, accordingly, prepared the Scheme, which, admittedly, stand approved by the Government. A copy of this Scheme has been made available to this Court by the State respondents for perusal.

5. I have perused the materials on record including the Scheme aforementioned and I have also heard the learned counsel for the parties appearing before me.

6. In view of the fact that the Department concerned has, now, a Scheme, for regularising the services of the employees concerned, the services of such employees need to be regularised in terms of the Scheme so prepared.

7. Considering, therefore, the matter in its entirety and in the interest of justice, it is hereby directed that the respondents shall consider the cases of the writ petitioners, who are parties in the present batch of writ petitions, in the light of the Scheme aforementioned and upon considering the case of each of the writ petitioners separately, the respondents shall pass necessary order or orders in terms of the Scheme and in the light of the merit of the individual case. The Government, however, remains at liberty to consider, for appropriate further reliefs, the cases of all those writ petitioners, whose services cannot be regularised under the said Scheme. This apart, the writ petitioners, whose services are not regularised under the Scheme, are hereby given liberty to