2005 JTR(SC) 1492
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2005(8) Supreme 70
Supreme Court of India
(From Calcutta High Court)
Arijit Pasayat & R.V. Raveendran, JJ.
Director General Doordarshan Mandi House, New Delhi and Ors. —Appellants
versus
Manas Dey and Ors. —Respondents
Civil Appeal No. 6857 of 2005
(Arising out of SLP (C) No. 6666 of 2005)
Decided on 17-11-2005
Counsel for the Parties :
For the Appellants : Rajeev Sharma, Advocate.
For the Respondents : Dhruv Mehta, Rana S. Biswas and Mrs. Sarla Chandra, Advocates.
Important point
Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status and Regularisation) Scheme, 1993 of Govt. of India was not an on going scheme.
Act
Referred
:ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNALS ACT : S.19
CASUAL LABOURERS GRANT OF TEMPORARY STATUS AND REGULARISATION SCHEME OF GOVERNMENT OF INDIA : Cl.4
(A) The Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 read with Section 19 thereof governs the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to adjudicate service matters. The impugned judgment of the High Court pertained to an application under the Tribunals powers under Section 19 read with the Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status and Regularisation) Scheme, 1993 issued under the Administrative Tribunals Act. The Scheme prescribed conditions for according temporary status to casual labourers, and the Act provided the adjudicatory mechanism for enforcing such statutory rights.
(B) The conferment of temporary status is contingent upon fulfillment of strict conditions, including continuous service of not less than 240 days in a year as on the commencement of the Scheme. The Scheme is not an ongoing process but a one-time measure applicable only to those in employment on the notified date. Subsequent clarifications or general guidelines do not override the clear terms of the Scheme.
Facts of the case:
Casual labourers claimed continuous service from 1983 to 1997 and sought regularisation under the Scheme notified in 1993. The Tribunal held that they were entitled to temporary status, a decision affirmed by the High Court. The appellant challenged this on the ground that the Scheme was not ongoing and the Tribunals order was not protected by subsequent judicial interpretation.
Findings of Court:
The High Court erred in treating the Scheme as ongoing and in extending protection meant for a different factual scenario to the present case. The Tribunals order was not saved by the later judgment as the facts of the present case did not fall within its protective scope.
Issues:
Whether the Scheme is to be treated as ongoing; whether the observations in a later case have application to the present facts; whether the Tribunals order was legally sustainable.
Ratio Decidendi:
The Scheme is a one-time measure applicable only to casual labourers in employment on the date of its commencement who have completed the required period of service. The Tribunals order was untenable as the claimants did not satisfy this threshold requirement.
Result:
Appeal allowed without costs; the High Courts order was set aside.
(A) The Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 read with Section 19 thereof governs the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to adjudicate service matters. The impugned judgment of the High Court pertained to an application under the Tribunals powers under Section 19 read with the Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status and Regularisation) Scheme, 1993 issued under the Administrative Tribunals Act. The Scheme prescribed conditions for according temporary status to casual labourers, and the Act provided the adjudicatory mechanism for enforcing such statutory rights.
(B) The conferment of temporary status is contingent upon fulfillment of strict conditions, including continuous service of not less than 240 days in a year as on the commencement of the Scheme. The Scheme is not an ongoing process but a one-time measure applicable only to those in employment on the notified date. Subsequent clarifications or general guidelines do not override the clear terms of the Scheme.
Facts of the case:
Casual labourers claimed continuous service from 1983 to 1997 and sought regularisation under the Scheme notified in 1993. The Tribunal held that they were entitled to temporary status, a decision affirmed by the High Court. The appellant challenged this on the ground that the Scheme was not ongoing and the Tribunals order was not protected by subsequent judicial interpretation.
Findings of Court:
The High Court erred in treating the Scheme as ongoing and in extending protection meant for a different factual scenario to the present case. The Tribunals order was not saved by the later judgment as the facts of the present case did not fall within its protective scope.
Issues:
Whether the Scheme is to be treated as ongoing; whether the observations in a later case have application to the present facts; whether the Tribunals order was legally sustainable.
Ratio Decidendi:
The Scheme is a one-time measure applicable only to casual labourers in employment on the date of its commencement who have completed the required period of service. The Tribunals order was untenable as the claimants did not satisfy this threshold requirement.
Result:
Appeal allowed without costs; the High Courts order was set aside.
Judgment
Arijit Pasayat, J.—Leave granted.
2. Appellants call in question legality of the judgment rendered by a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court holding that the respondent were entitled to the benefit under the scheme called Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status and Regularisation) Scheme, 1993 of Government of India. Judgment and order dated 7th September, 2001 passed by the Calcutta Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (in short the ‘Tribunal’) in OA No. 992 of 1998 filed by the respondent under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985 (in short the ‘Act’) was held to be in order. Factual background in a nutshell is as follows:
3. Respondents filed an original application before the Tribunal claiming that they had rendered service from 1983 to 1997 as casual workers. According to them they have completed the requisite period of service as described hereinbelow:
“It was claimed that the department had circulated by O.M.No. 51016/2/90-Estt.(C) dated 10.9.1993 a scheme for grant of temporary status and regularization of casual workers. The scheme is called Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status and Regularisation) Scheme of Govt. of India, 1993. The said scheme came into force with effect from 1.9.1993. The scheme envisaged grant of temporary status to casual labourer who had worked at least 240 days in a year (206) days in the case of offices observing 5 days a week)”.
4. The relevant portion of paragraph 3 of the scheme reads as follows:
“This scheme is applicable to casual labourers in employment of the Ministries/Department of Government of India and their attached and subordinate officer, on the date of issue of these order.”
Paragraph 4(1) of the Scheme reads as follows:
“Temporary Status—Temporary status would be conferred on all casual labourers who are in employment on the date of issue of this O.M. and have rendered a continuous service of at least one year, which means that they must have been engaged for a period of at least 240 (206 days in the cases of offices observing 5 days a week).”
5. It was held by the High Court that though this Court had in Civil Appeal No. 224 of 2000 and connected appeals held that the scheme in question was not an on going process but one time scheme yet the judgment and order of the Tribunal having been rendered on 7th September, 2001 long before the decision of this Court in Civil Appeal referred to above, a right which had arisen from the Tribunal’s order has been saved by this Court in its judgment. It was noted that positive direction has been given by this Court in the judgment that those who had already been given temporary status on the assumption that the scheme is an on going scheme should not be deprived of the said status because of the judgment.
6. According to learned counsel for the appellant the High Court’s judgment is clearly erroneous on the face of the judgment in Union of India v. Mohan Pal and Others reported in (2002(4) SCC 573).
7. On the contrary learned counsel for the respondents submitted that the observations in paragraph 11 of Mohan Lal’s case (supra) protect them as was rightly observed by the High Court.
8. The controversy can be resolved on the basis of the interpretation of clause 4 of the Scheme. As already noticed, the Scheme came into effect from 1.9.1993.
9. Clause 4 of the Scheme is very clear that the conferment of “temporary” status is to be given to the casual labourers who were in employment as on the date of commencement of the Scheme. Tribunal has taken the view that this is an ongoing scheme and as and when casual labourers complete 240 days of work in a year or 206 days (in case of offices observing 5 days a week), they are entitled to get “temporary” status. We do not think that clause 4 of the Scheme envisages it as an ongoing scheme. In order to acquire “temporary” status, the casual labourer should have been in employment as on the date of commencement of the Scheme and he should have also rendered a continuous service of at least one year which means that he should have been engaged for a period of at least 240 days in a year or 206 days in case of officers observing 5 days a week. From clause 4 of the Scheme, it does not appear to be a general guidelines to be applied for the purpose of giving “temporary” status to all the casual workers, as and when they complete one year’s continuous service. Of course, it is up to the Union Government to formulate any scheme as and when it is found necessary that the casual labourers are to be given “temporary” status and later they are to be absorbed in Group “D” posts.
10. This position was highlighted in Union of India v. Gagan Kumar (JT 2005(6) SC 410).
11. Above being the position the Tribunal’s order is clearly untenable and the High Court was in error in proceeding under the assumption that the protection given to some of the parties in Mohan Lal’s case (supra) applied to the facts of the present case.
12. As was observed in Gagan Kumar’s case (supra) the observations in paragraph 11 of Mohan Lal’s case (supra) were rendered in a different factual background and context and have no application to the facts of the present case. Appeal is allowed with no order as to costs.
Appeal allowed.
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