Public employment must adhere to statutory rules, and engagement without following procedures does not confer rights to regularization.

ORDER

Per: - Rajinder Singh Dogra, Judicial Member

1. The SWP No.1190/2018 was transferred from the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu and was registered as T.A No.1262/2020 by the Registry of this Tribunal.

2. The present matter was filed before the Hon’ble High Court seeking following relief: -

a) Writ of certiorari may quash the impugned Govt. Order No.

422-Home of 2017 dated 19.04.2017 (ANNEXURE G).

b) By issuance of writ of mandamus, the official respondents may be directed and commanded to engage the writ petitioners as daily wage Warders in Prison Department.

c) By issuance of writ of mandamus may command and direct the official respondents to consider the age of entry in the service record/book as was there at the time of initial appointment of the writ petitioners as daily wage Warders at the time of their engagement in the year 1991 made in pursuance to orders (Annexure A, B and C) and to count their service from 1991 for their further regularization.

d) This Hon'ble Court may pass any other writ, order or direction, which it may deem fit and proper in the present set of circumstances.

3. The facts of the case as pleaded by the petitioners in their pleadings are as follows: -

a) The present Transfer Application arises out of SWP No.

1190/2018, which was originally filed before the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu and subsequently transferred to this Tribunal upon the constitution of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jammu Bench.

b) The applicants claim that they were engaged in the year 1991 as daily-rated Warders in the Jammu & Kashmir Prisons Department, particularly in Sub-Jail, Hiranagar. According to them, their engagement was made on account of an emergent situation arising from the increased lodgment of militants in various jails of the Jammu Province during the peak militancy period. It is asserted that such engagement was made on the verbal directions of the then Director General of Prisons and formalized through orders issued by the Superintendent, Sub-

Jail Hiranagar and the Director General, Prisons.

c) The applicants contend that they discharged duties as Warders for a period ranging from one to two years. However, thereafter, their services were disengaged without issuance of any formal order or notice. It is their case that other similarly engaged persons, namely respondent Nos. 4 to 7, who were appointed through the same set of orders, were allowed to continue and were ultimately regularized in the year 1996. Claiming discrimination and hostile treatment, the applicants approached the High Court by filing SWP No. 1008/1996, wherein they sought quashment of the regularization of the private respondents or, in the alternative, their own appointment on similar terms.

d) The said writ petition was disposed of by the learned Single Judge on 17.05.2001, directing the official respondents to explore the possibility of providing service avenues to the applicants without disturbing the appointments of the private respondents. Aggrieved by the said judgment, the State preferred LPA (SW) No. 242/2002, which remained pending for several years and was finally disposed of on 21.12.2015. The Hon’ble Division Bench, while taking note of the prolonged litigation and the peculiar factual background, moulded the relief and directed the State to consider the case of the applicants for engagement as daily wagers within a stipulated period.

e) Pursuant thereto, the matter was examined by the Home Department, which ultimately issued Government Order No. 422-Home of 2017 dated 19.04.2017, rejecting the claim of