Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 28: High Court today said that a daily rated worker or work charged employee should have completed continuous seven years on duty for claiming the regularization on the post under SRO 64.
Dismissing the plea seeking claim of regularization on the post under SRO 64 of 1994, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Pankaj MithaI and Justice V C Koul clarified that in view of the provisions for the purposes of regularization two conditions are essential.
Court said these two conditions are that a person seeking regularization must be a daily rated worker/work charged employee and that he has completed seven years of continuous period of work as daily rated worker or work charged employee.
Court added that in the matters of regularization of services based upon factual aspects, it is not always possible for the writ court to verify the factual aspects on the basis of the record produced or the documents on record.
“Moreover, when repeatedly a consideration has been accorded in the matter of regularization by the authorities and every time the claim has been rejected on the factual aspects, the court cannot permit the person to keep invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of the court pleading for justice and in such circumstances”, reads the judgment.
It is always better, DB added, that the recourse to the appropriate forum be allowed to be taken so that the parties may lead evidence on the disputed aspects of the facts and get the matter adjudicated upon.
Court said the repeated filing of successive writ petitions virtually for the same cause of action in seeking regularization after rejection of their claim by the authorities, time and again, is more or less the abuse of the process of law and in these circumstances, the writ court may be justified in refusing to exercise discretionary powers.
The writ court in dismissing the petition of Bashir Ahmad Dar had held that in exercise of writ jurisdiction, the court cannot enter into any fact-finding mission so as to ascertain the disputed questions regarding continuous discharge of duties by the petitioner-appellant for a continuous period of seven years which is one of the conditions for regularization in terms of SRO 64 of 1994.
The appellant-Dar in the said writ petition had claimed regularization of his services in terms of SRO 64 of 1994 and to accord him the same treatment as was given to one Ali Mohammad Bhat vide order dated 10th August 2012 and had prayed for the quashing of the order dated 12th February 2018 by which his claim for regularization as aforesaid was rejected.
The Director of Sericulture Development Department J&K in terms of the court directions has considered the entire facts and circumstances of the case pertaining to the appellant-Dar and by a detailed and comprehensive order refused to regularize his services.
“It has been held repeatedly by this Court that SRO 64 of 1994 does not apply to casual labour and workers or seasonal and labour workers inasmuch as there is a difference between the daily rated worker and work charged employee and casual workers as defined under the Rules”, DB recorded.
HC further added that court has held in several decisions that break in service up-to two days in a period of 90 calendar days would not affect the continuous working, but the break of long terms for weeks and months would disrupt the continuous service.
However, the petitioner-appellant in the entire writ petition filed before the court has not uttered a single word alleging that he has uninterrupted continuous seven years of continuous service to his credit as a daily rated worker/work charged employee.
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