The central legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of the Labour Court's award and the crucial date of February 13, 1993, as the starting point for determining the entitlement to reinstatement and service benefits.

RAJIV NARAIN RAINA, J.

1. The petitioner claims regularization of service as a Cook in the Hospitality Department, Haryana from the day one Tota Singh, Cook, who was junior to him was regularized and to grant all consequential service benefits to the petitioner. The services of Tota Singh were regularized w.e.f. April 01, 1993 as per the Haryana Government Policy instructions dated May 27, 1993 as clarified by letter dated March 18, 1994.

2. The claim is made in the following backdrop of dates and events. The petitioner was employed as a Cook on March 07, 1986 on daily wages on muster roll. Tota Singh was appointed as a Helper Cook on May 14, 1986. One Pawan Kumar Chaudhary, Cook appointed a week after the petitioner, left his job against which vacancy Tota Singh was appointed as a Cook on daily wages on September 01, 1986. Thus, Tota Singh was junior to the petitioner. They together approached this Court in CWP No.5573 of 1989 seeking regularization of the services from the date they were appointed and for pay at par with regular Cooks. The writ petition came up for motion hearing on April 26, 1989 when the Division Bench issued notice of motion for August 07, 1989 and ordered status quo to be maintained regarding service.

3. On August 07, 1989 the State entered appearance and contested the writ petition by filing written statement and the matter was adjourned sine die to await the decision of the Supreme Court in pending appeal in State of Haryana & Others v. Piara Singh & Others against the ruling of the Division Bench of this Court in CWP 72 of 1988, Piara Singh v. State of Haryana and connected cases.

4. The State in response to the present writ petition asserts that the petitioner was not in service on the date the status quo order was passed. On May 17, 1990 the petitioner was retrenched from service but Tota Singh continued. Claiming violation of the status quo order the petitioner approached this Court in COCP No.84 of 1991 pleading that the order was disobeyed. The contempt petition was filed almost one year after the termination. However, an undertaking was given before the Bench in the contempt proceeding that the Department shall give appointment letter as Cook within two days and he will be posted at Hisar. In view of the undertaking, the contempt petition was not pressed and was dismissed as in fructuous vide order dated April 12, 1991. On the same day, the Joint Director Hospitality, Haryana issued office order directing the petitioner to report for duty as Cook in the Mini Secretariat, Hisar. The petitioner joined duty on April 19, 1991. The pending writ petition which the petitioner had filed with Tota Singh as co-petitioner was dismissed on November 16, 1992 in view of the judgment handed down by the Supreme Court in State of Haryana & Others v. Piara Singh & others, AIR 1992 SC 2130 : (1992) 1 SCC 118.

5. It is mentioned in the impugned order that the petitioner remained absent for 502 days w.e.f. February 13, 1988 to October 06, 1992 which makes the petitioner appear to be a habitual absentee. In the meantime, the department received letter from the office of Chief Secretary to Government, Haryana dated December 17, 1992 regarding review of requirement of services of ad hoc/casual/daily wagers etc. in which letter it was stipulated that in view of the orders passed by the Supreme Court in Piara Singh case, the ad hoc employees are to be replaced by the candidates recommended by the SSS Board/HPSC. Hence, the services of all ad hoc employees on posts against which candidates from the SSS Board/HPSC have been recommended may be terminated immediately. In cases where no such recommendations have been made by the Board or the Commission, the department should review the position of the ad hoc appointees and terminate their services immediately, if no longer required. In cases, where High Court has granted stay on the basis of Piara Singh's case, immediate action in terms of letter dated November 06, 1992