Temporary employees performing the same duties as regular employees are entitled to minimum wages as per the equal pay principle, asserting their right to equitable treatment.

JUDGMENT :

UNNI KRISHNAN NAIR, J.

1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners, Mr. Toshi O. Longkumer. Also heard learned Government Advocate, Mr. E. Thiba Phom. .

2. The above noted writ petitions, having raised similar or identical issues, reliefs, prayed for, also being one and the same, with the consent of the parties, were taken up for hearing analogously and are being disposed of by this order.

3. The petitioners, in the above noted writ petitions, have prayed for authorizing to them salaries, at par with the salaries authorized to regular Warders, serving in various establishments under the Director General of Prisons, Department of Prisons, Nagaland. The petitioners have also prayed for formulation of a scheme/policy for regularization of their services, by also reserving 50% of the vacancies arising in the cadre of Warder, for the purpose of effecting regularization of their services.

4. The petitioners, herein, were engaged by the competent authority, in view of the exigencies arising, requiring engagement of Warders, beyond the sanctioned strength of the cadre and such engagement was projected to have been affected by invoking the provisions of Rule 177 of the Assam Jail Rules . The petitioners, in the above noted writ petitions, were so engaged during the period w.e.f. 2001 to 2022. On their such engagement, the petitioners were authorized a scale of pay of Rs. 2750-4400/- per month. The petitioners are continuing to discharge their duties w.e.f the dates of their respective engagement, without any enhancement of the said scale of pay initially authorized to them. The petitioners having rendered long period of service, they raised a demand for being authorized the scale of pay authorized to the post of Warder in the Regular establishment, coming into effect on implementation of the Revision of Pay Rule 2017, in the State of Nagaland. It is to be noted that the scale of pay authorized to the petitioners is the scale authorized to the post of Warder, on the implementation of the Revision of Pay Rules 1999. The Petitioners projected that they had approached the respondent authorities on several occasions praying for enhancement of the scale of pay authorized to them at the time of their initial engagement, and to authorize to them the scale of pay presently authorized to the Regular posts of Warders.

The petitioners have also projected that on their engagement as Temporary Ordinary Grade Warder, they were deployed for various types of duties, which they contend are being discharged by them without any blemish. The petitioners in the above writ petitions have made categorical statements to the effect that the works done by them and the work so done by the regular Warders are one and the same and they are assigned duties in rotation with the regular Warders, however, they are denied the pay scale as authorized to the post of Warder in the regular establishment.

The petitioners have further projected that the departmental authorities’ w.e.f 2015, in pursuance to a process initiated in the matter, proceeded to regularize 34 (thirty four) Temporary Ordinary Grade Warders, against regular vacant posts of Warders. However, the said process of regularization was not continued in respect of the remaining Temporary Ordinary Grade Warders, including the petitioners, in the above noted writ petitions. The petitioners also project that the vacancies being available and they since their date of initial engagement, having been discharging duties similar to the one so discharged by the regular incumbents in the cadre of Warder; they are also entitled, given the length of services rendered by them, to be considered for regularization of th