Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 2: The High Court while allowing appeals filed by Government against the judgment of writ court today said the employees in Animal Husbandry department on need basis have no right to continue in the department indefinitely.
The Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Rajnesh Oswal while allowing 14 appeals filed by the department of Animal Husbandry in a common judgment said, the nature of engagements of these employees have not vested right to them to continue in the department indefinitely, when the authority under which these employees were engaged from time to time stood withdrawn in terms of Government order dated 17.3.2015.
The writ court after considering the rival contentions and going through the material on record had come to the conclusion that the Government order under which the engagement of these employees was withdrawn was prospective in operation and not applicable to them.
The writ court thus allowed the batch of petitions of these employees and quashed all the orders issued by the Government for disengaging these employees in pursuance of Government order dated 17.3.2015.
Writ court had directed the authorities to continue these employees as casual labourers on need basis in terms of their engagement orders and give them benefit accrued to them in terms of policy decision of the Government.
The Government aggrieved of these directions challenged the judgment by way of filing of 14 appeals on the ground that the writ court has not appreciated that the engagement of these employees was on need basis with the conditions that their services be disengaged at any time.
The DB after having heard the Government said, there is no dispute that these engagements were made on need basis and not in pursuance of any selection process as such it was done purely on pick and choose method and prior to the year 1994 the Government confer benefit of regularization under SRO 64 of 1994 to such daily wagers who had completed seven years till March 31, 1994.
However, the Government put a complete ban on the fresh engagements of daily rated workers and work charge employees with the effect from commencement of the Rule 7 of the said SRO in any of the Government department by providing that no field or subordinate officer shall have any power for engagement of daily rated workers and the existing delegation if any, in this regard stand withdrawn.
Court while referring the Government order of March 17, 2015 said, it clearly transpires that the authority to engage such kind of employees delegated by the Government to various departments has been withdrawn with immediate effect and as consequence thereof none of the authorized departments was left with any authority to engage the casual or seasonal labourers in their departments.
The DB as such recorded that after issuance of the Government order, the department had no authority to extend their engagements or permit them to continue on need basis as the engagement authority stood withdrawn by the Government.
The DB further added that the writ court has not appreciated the withdrawal order of Government from this perspective and erroneously held that the services of these employees were liable to be disengaged or discontinued is clearly not attracted in the case on hand, for the same pertains to the engagement made by different Government Departments, PSUs and other autonomous bodies under schemes against the sanctioned posts.
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