Digitally signed by SHAYNA NAFR KADRI HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPS No. 2402 of 2023

1 - Durga Prasad Chandra S/o Late Ghanshyam Chandra Aged About 55 Years R/o Khajanchitoli, Jashpurnagar, District Jashpur (C.G.)

... Petitioner(s)

versus

1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary, Forest Department, Atal Nagar, Mantralaya, New Raipur (C.G.)

2 - The Chief Conservator Of Forest Forest Department, Raipur, District Raipur (C.G.)

3 - The Chief Conservator Of Forest Forest Division, Ambikapur, District Surguja (C.G.)

4 - The Divisional Forest Officer Jashpur, District Jashpur (C.G.)

... Respondent(s)

(Cause title is taken from Case Information System)

For Petitioner : Mr. Jitendra Kumar Saxena For State : Mr. Devesh G. Kela, Panel Lawyer (Hon'ble Shri Amitendra Kishore Prasad, Judge

Order on Board

02/12/2025

1. By way of this petition, the petitioner has prayed for following reliefs :

“10.1That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, thereby setting-aside/quashing the impugned order dated 13.01.2023 (Annexure P/ 17.

10.2 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the respondent authorities to regularize the services of petitioner, with all consequential benefits.

10.3 That, any other relief/order which may deem fit and just in the facts and circumstances of the case including award of the costs of the petition may be given.”

2. Facts of the case, as projected, are that the petitioner was engaged as a daily wage employee on 01.06.1988 and has since been continuously discharging his duties with sincerity, diligence, and honesty. Over the span of more than three decades, no complaint, stigma, or adverse remark has ever been recorded against him. The petitioner submits that his long and uninterrupted service places him squarely within the category of workers who were intended to be benefitted by the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Secretary, State of Karnataka vs. Uma Devi, reported in (2006) 4 SCC 1 wherein the Court held that daily wagers engaged prior to a specified date should be considered for regularization, subject to the conditions prescribed by the State. Acting upon this judgment, the State Government issued a circular dated 05.03.2008 providing for the regularization of daily wage employees who had been working prior to 31.12.1988. This circular Annexure P/1, formed the basis on which numerous similarly situated daily wage employees under the Forest Department were regularized. However, despite being fully eligible and despite numerous representations, the case of petitioner for regularization was not considered by the authorities. To demonstrate the continued nature of his employment, the petitioner points to the official list prepared by the Chief Conservator of Forest, Surguja Forest Circle, Ambikapur, wherein his name appears at serial No. 3. Annexure P/2, clearly records that the petitioner had been serving as a daily wager since 01.06.1988. The petitioner emphasizes that as early as 23.12.1996, the Managing Director of the Minor Forest Produce Federation Limited, Jashpurnagar issued a recommendation stating that the petitioner had been regularly working as a daily wage employee and was therefore eligible for regularization. Thereafter, on 11.08.2004, the Managing Director of the District Union, Jashpurnagar recommended that the name of petitioner be included in the seniority list of eligible employees (Annexure P/4). Around the same period, a committee constituted by the department issued a certificate affirming that, as per official records of the Minor Forest Produce Cooperative Union Limited, Jashpurnagar, the petitioner had indeed been functioning as a daily wager prior to 1988. In addition to the above, on 12.08.2004, yet another recommendation was issued by the Managing Director of the District Minor Forest Produce Cooperative Union Limited, Jashpurnagar, formally recommending that the petitioner’s services be regularized (Annexure P/6). Soon thereafter,