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2026 Supreme(Online)(CAT) 1346
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
Rajinder Singh Dogra, Judicial Member, Ram Mohan Johri, Administrative Member
Baldev Singh – Appellant
Versus
State of Jammu & Kashmir – Respondent
Transfer Application No. 273/2025|SWP No.796/2018|T.A No.273/2020
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Mr. GS Thakur
For the Respondents: Mr. Sudesh Magotra, Ld. AAG
Regularization effective date under 2010 Act adjusted to statutory window post-appointed day due to departmental delay, ensuring pension eligibility.
Headnote:The judgment addresses regularization of consolidated employees under the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010, particularly Section 5 proviso and Section 10 timeline. Petitioner, engaged since 1986 as Safaiwala, completed over seven years by 1995 but was regularized prospectively in 2018, denying pension benefits. Court found delay attributable to department, violating fairness under Arts. 14 and 16. Key issue: Whether prospective regularization under 2010 Act's Section 5 proviso defeats legislative intent when employee met eligibility pre-appointed day and department delayed beyond Section 10 outer limit. Ratio: Welfare statutes require harmonization; effective date adjusted to statutory window post-appointed day, balancing proviso with purpose to prevent denial of retiral benefits due to administrative delay. Transfer Application allowed; Government Order modified to deem regularization effective from 01.07.2010, entitling petitioner to pay fixation, qualifying service continuity, and pensionary benefits.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. petitioner's service history and regularization claims under 2010 act. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4) |
| 2. core dispute on effective date despite prospective proviso. (Para 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9) |
| 3. harmonizing act's intent against departmental delay for fairness. (Para 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14) |
| 4. fix effective date as 01.07.2010 with consequential benefits. (Para 15 , 16 , 17) |
ORDER
Per: - Rajinder Singh Dogra, Judicial Member
1. The SWP No.796/2018 was transferred from the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu and was registered as T.A No.273/2020 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 quashing the Government order no.226- HME of 2018 dated 28-03-2018 qua the petitioner to the extent of regularizing the service of the petitioner with effect from the date of passing the order impugned without taking into consideration the service rendered by petitioner with effect from 1986 whereby the case of the petitioner for regularization has been considered by the respondent no.1 under the provision of Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services Special Provision Act, 2010 from the date of issuing the order and not from the date of completing the 7 years.
b) Further Writ of Mandamus commanding the respondents to regularize the service of the petitioner with effect from the date the petitioner completed 7 years from the date of his initial engagement as consolidated Safiwala so as to attain the eligibility of getting pension and other retiral benefits against the post of Safiwala on the basis of his claim and qualification from the date the petitioner completed seven years as casual daily rated worker in terms SRO 64 at par with the similar situated employee of the department who were appointed in the year 1988 and have been regularized against the post they were working from the date of completing 7 years.
c) Further writ of Mandamus commanding the respondents to release and pay the grade and all consequential benefits in favor of petitioner appended to the post against which the petitioner is discharging the duties as Safiwala and settled the pension by counting his adhoc service as qualifying service for pension.
3. The facts of the case as pleaded by the petitioner in his pleadings are as follows: -
a) The applicant is a permanent resident of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and a citizen of India, who invokes the jurisdiction of this Tribunal seeking enforcement of his statutory and constitutional rights. The grievance raised pertains to the effective date of regularization of his services and the consequential denial of pensionary benefits despite long and uninterrupted service rendered to the respondent-department.
b) The applicant was initially engaged by respondent No.3 in the year 1986 as a Part-Time Safaiwala/PTS and continued to discharge his duties uninterruptedly at various health institutions under the Health Department. Over the years, though the nomenclature of his engagement underwent changes, the nature of duties remained identical and continuous. Vide order dated 29.06.2002, the applicant was adjusted as a consolidated Safaiwala on a monthly consolidated remuneration against a vacant post and was subsequently confirmed by the competent authority and posted at PHC Changa. Since then, the applicant continued to perform full-time duties without any break, receiving salary and benefits akin to similarly placed employees.
c) It is the specific case of the applicant that he completed more than seven years of continuous service as early as 1995 and thereby became eligible for regularization under the prevailing policy framework, particularly SRO-64 of 1994. However, despite fulfilling all eligibility conditions and despite repeated departmental recommendations acknowledging that consolidated Safaiwalas were working against clear vacancies on full-time basis, his services were not regularized in time. Communications issued by
