1. When public institutions depend, day after day, on the same hands to perform permanent tasks, equity demands that those tasks are placed on sanctioned posts, and those workers are treated with fairness and dignity. The controversy before us is not about rewarding irregular employment. It is about whether years of ad hoc engagement, defended by shifting excuses and pleas of financial strain, can be used to deny the rights of those who have kept public institutions running. We resolve it by insisting that public employment should be organised with fairness, reasoned decision making, and respect for the dignity of work.

2. The present appeal arises from the judgment and order dated 08/02/2017 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Special Appeal No. 1245 of 2009, whereby the Special Appeal preferred by the present appellants against the dismissal of Writ Petition No. 3162 of 2000 was rejected.

3. By the impugn