Kailash Singh And Others vs Union Of India And Another

Sudhanshu Dhulia, J

The petitioners before this Court are casual labourers working in G.B. Pant Institute of Environment and Development at Koshi Katarmal, District Almora. They are presently 27 in numbers, as this Court has been informed that petitioner no. 12 has left the Institute on his own motion, during the pendency of the present writ petition.

G.B. Pant Institute of Environment and Development is an autonomous institution working under the Ministry of Environment, Government of India. The petitioners by means of the present writ petition are seeking a direction from this Court in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents to grant them the status of "temporary employees", as that would increase their chances of being regularized in future. This claim of the petitioners is based on their continuous service for several years, in some of the cases the petitioners have been working since 1993 and the one who has the least number of years has been working since 2008. So, in short, they have been working for a period of 10 years to 26 years in the institute. Moreover, although they are not working against any sanctioned post but their work is perennial in nature, which is evident from the fact that they have been working for the last several years in the Institute with continuous and uninterrupted service, and as such they have a legitimate expectation of getting temporary status in the Institute.

According to the learned counsel for the Institute, temporary status cannot be granted to the petitioners under the "Casual Labour Grant of Temporary Status Regularisation Scheme", 1993 of the Government of India, as this Scheme had come into force on 01.09.1993 and only those employees who had been working as such on said date fall under the zone of consideration of the Scheme. Since most the petitioners barring petitioner no. 1 are outside the zone of consideration, as they have been employed after 1.09.1993, they strictly meaning do not fall under the Scheme.

Be that as it may, it is an admitted position that in many other institutes which are autonomous institutes of Government of India, such as Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and "Vivekanand Parvatiya Sansthan", which is also situated in Almora, for similarly situated employees a relaxation has been given, a fact which is admitted by the learned counsel for the Institute. In fact, the Director of the respondent Institute has forwarded the application of the petitioners as well for grant of temporary status before Government of India.

In view of this position that since a relaxation has been made in case of other similarly situated employees of other autonomous institute of the Government of India, the writ petition is disposed of with the direction to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, New Delhi to take a decision on granting temporary status to the petitioners, or at least some of the petitioners, as such a status has been given to similarly situated employees of other Institutes by way of relaxation. This Court has been informed that the matter has already been forwarded by the Director of the Institute and the matter is presently before the Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India for its consideration. Let a decision be taken as expeditiously as possible, but preferably within ten weeks from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.

Meanwhile, the Director shall also consider granting the wages to the petitioners as applicable under the "Code of Wages".