Office Notes, reports, orders or proceedings or SL. No. Date COURT’S OR JUDGE’S ORDERS directions and Registrar’s order with Signatures WPSS/ 1699/ 2023 With WPSS/ 1493/ 2023 WPSS/ 1702/ 2023 WPSS/ 1711/ 2023 WPSS/ 1714/ 2023 WPSS/ 1940/ 2023 WPSS/ 1941/ 2023 Hon’ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.

Mr. B.D. Pande, Advocate for the petitioners.

Mr. Ganesh Dutt Kandpal, Deputy Advocate General for the State.

Mr. Shobhit Joshi, Advocate holding brief of Mr. Ashish Joshi, Advocate for Uttarakhand Transport Corporation.

2. Since common questions of law and fact are involved in these petitions, therefore they are heard together and are being decided by a common judgment. However, for the sake of brevity, facts of Writ Petition No. 1699 of 2023 (SS) alone are being discussed and considered.

3. Petitioners are serving as Driver on contract in Uttarakhand Transport Corporation; however, they are being paid remuneration based on distance travelled in a day.

4. According to the petitioners, after serving for nearly one decade as driver, they have earned a right to be considered for regularisation, which right however is not being considered by the employer i.e. Corporation. The mode of payment of honorarium is also being questioned by petitioners as unfair as according to them, for discharging duties as regular driver are performing, petitioners are entitled to same remuneration.

5. The reliefs sought in Writ Petition No. 1699 of

2023 (SS) are as follow:

“i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent Uttarakhand Transport Corporation to treat the petitioners as substantively and regularly appointed Drivers in the Corporation as the petitioners have been appointed against the sanctioned posts in the structure and after following the fair and transparent procedure contemplated under Article 14 & 16 of the Constitution of India as well as in terms of the provisions of the Regulations, 2015.

ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding and directing the respondents to regularize the petitioners on the post of drivers in the Transport Corporation as per the provisions of the contained in regularization rules keeping in mind their continuous, uninterrupted service with the department for reasonable period.

iii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent Uttarakhand Transport Corporation to pay minimum of the pay scale of the post of Driver in Transport Corporation to the petitioners inasmuch as petitioners have been appointed against the sanctioned posts in the structure and after following the fair and transparent procedure and after following the fair and transparent procedure contemplated under Article 14 & 16 of the Constitution of India as well as in terms of the provisions of the Regulations 2015 and are discharging the same duties as is being discharged by the regularly appointed Driver.”

6. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that petitioners were appointed after inviting applications and after holding selection. He further submits that there is no intermediary involved and they were directly appointed by the Corporation against sanctioned post. Thus according to them, there is no legal impediment in regularising the services of the petitioners as sufficient number of vacancies are available in the Corporation.

7. Mr. Shobhit Joshi, learned counsel holding brief of Mr. Ashish Joshi, learned counsel for the Corporation, however, submits that petitioners were