The court reaffirmed that temporary employees claiming regularization must provide adequate proof of their employment status, and backdoor entries into public service violate constitutional principles of equal opportunity.

COMMON ORDER :

As the issue involved in all these writ petitions is one and the same, they are being taken up for hearing as well as disposed of by way of this Common Order.

2. The grievance of the petitioners in all these writ petitions is that, LIC of India engaged the petitioners herein as temporary Class IV employees (peons/watchmen) from 1996 at its offices in Nellore, Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam Divisions in Andhra Pradesh without issuing appointment letters. Wages were paid to them in dummy names every month in order to avoid regularization of their services. Minimum wage requirements as mandated by the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 were also circumvented. As a result, no proper records of wage payment and attendance of the Petitioners were maintained until 2011. All the Petitioners have worked with the LIC for more than 5 years as on 18.01.2011. The petitioners have joined in LIC of India after completion of 10^th standard because of financial problems of their families. Most of the petitioners belong to SC/ST/OBC communities. Due to less education and social backwardness the petitioners do not know the implications of wage payments in Dummy names. In some of the offices the officials used to prepare a consolidated payment Voucher for all the temporary workmen by debiting other Miscellaneous Expenses Account and the Officials in OS department used to disburse the wage payment to the Temporary Workmen. At that time the workmen were not aware of whether their names are mentioned in the consolidated Miscellaneous Payment Voucher or not. It is further stated that on 10.07.2010, the Insurance Employees' Union, Machilipatnam Division wrote to the Regional Manager (P&IR), South Central Zonal Office, LIC of India bringing to their notice the practice of paying wages to temporary Class IV employees in dummy names and requested that wages be paid in the employees" original names. As per rules, Temporary Workmen or Badli Worker or Daily wager or whatever the name may be, are to be appointed as per LIC of India (Temporary Employment) Instructions 1993 and these instructions are notified by Ministry of Finance in Gazette of India in 1993. These instructions specified that workmen should be engaged for maximum period of 120 days only. To continue the same workmen for years together, the LIC offices have started wage payments in Dummy names every month by violating their own Rules and Regulations. Further, the audit and Inspections conducted from 1993 to 2011 are also silent about the wage payments in Dummy names and the associated corruption in wage payments in Dummy names. No records are maintained about the number of workmen engaged in that particular month and thus violated the labour laws.

While the matter stood thus, in accordance with the Supreme Court's order dated 18.01.2011 in D.V. Anil Kumar [C.A. No. 953-968 of 2005], LIC of India issued a notification on 20.05.2011 for appointment of peons. The said notification was applicable as a One-Time measure for recruitment of all eligible temporary Class-IV employees who had been working with LIC of India for more than 5 years as on 18.01.2011. The selection procedure included a written examination and interview of candidates short listed through the examination. It is further stated that the written examination was to be held on 26.06.2011. The Petitioners being temporary Class-IV employees meeting the eligibility criteria, applied to appear in the examination in accordance with the notification dated 20.05.2011. Accordingly, they had submitted their applications to the respective Branch M