JUDGMENT : 

HARPREET SINGH BRAR, J.

1. The present writ petition has been filed under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India with a prayer for issuance of an appropriate writ or order in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to consider and to regularize the services of petitioners in view of the resolution bearing 139/4 dated 25.06.2018 (Annexure P-3) passed by respondent No.4- Municipal Corporation, Rajpura as the resolution has been passed considering the petitioners on fulfilling the criteria for regularization. Further prayed for regularizing the services of petitioners w.e.f. the date of their initial joining with the Municipal Corporation along with all consequential benefits.

CONTENTIONS

2. Learned counsel for the petitioners, inter alia, contends that the petitioners were initially appointed in the year 1996 as Peon on contract basis but their services had been terminated in the year 2003. Vide award dated 11.12.2013, learned Industrial Tribunal cum Labour Court, Patiala directed the respondents to reinstate petitioner No.1 with continuity in service but without back wages. Thereafter, contract of the petitioners was extended from time to time. Petitioners No.2 and 4 are working as such till date, however, on contractual basis. Learned counsel further submits that in the year 2016, the Government of Punjab enacted a The Punjab Adhoc Contractual, Daily Wage, Temporary, Work Charged and Outsourced Employees Welfare Act, 2016 (hereinafter ‘Act of 2016’), as per which the temporary/contractual/work charge/outsource employee who had completed three years of service were to be regularized. The respondent-Municipal Council, Rajpura had also adopted the Act of 2016, as directed by the Department of Local Government, Punjab vide letter dated 28.12.2016. The respondent-Corporation vide resolution dated 04.01.2017 had resolved to proceed according to the Act of 2016, without raising any objection regarding such employees who fulfil the prescribed conditions. The said resolution has also been approved by the Government of Punjab vide memo bearing No.EB-4-DLG(Rajpura-205)-2017/11.51 dated 08.03.2017 (Annexure P-2). However, in spite of the fact that the petitioners have been working for over 26 years, the service of the petitioners has not been regularized till date. The petitioners have also served a legal notice dated 01.08.2019 (Annexure P-7) and a reminder dated 20.12.2021 (Annexure P-8) but to no avail.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioners further submits that the claim of regularization raised by similarly situated employees, serving Municipal Corporation, Bathinda as Fireman/Drivers has already been accepted in CWP No. 11106 of 2021 titled as Dev Singh and others vs. State of Punjab and others. He further submits that the case of the petitioners is also squarely covered by the judgments passed by this Court in CWP-2371-2020 titled as Harbans Lal vs. State of Punjab, LPA-1892-2019 titled as State of Haryana and others vs. Jai Bhagwan and CWP-10146-2023 titled as Manjeet Singh and others vs. State of Punjab and others.

4. Per contra, learned State counsel is could not controvert the judgments cited by learned counsel for the petitioners but submits that the facts of the case of the petitioners are distinguishable from Dev Singh’s case (supra). Learned counsel further submits that the Act of 2016 under which the petitioners are claiming regularization has already been withdrawn by the government, thus reliance upon the same is misconceived. Lastly, he submits that petitioners No.1 and 3 have already attained the age of superannuation and retired from service on 31.1.2023 and 31.07.2025, respectively.

OBSERVATION & ANALYSIS

5. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record with their able assistance, admittedly, the petitioners have been working in the respondent-Corporation as Peons since the year 1996. This Court has been constrained to observe a trend where long term employees are engaged