In a landmark judgment with profound implications for thousands of daily-wage and casual workers, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the Haryana government to regularise the services of long-serving employees in the state's forest department. This decision brings hope to workers who have been fighting for permanent status for over two decades.
Court Slams State's Arbitrary Denial of Rights
Justice Sandeep Moudgil delivered the verdict while deciding a batch of approximately 50 petitions filed by daily-wage and casual labourers. Many of these petitioners have been working since the early 2000s. The court strongly held that denying regularisation after decades of continuous service amounts to arbitrariness and discrimination, violating the constitutional rights of the employees.
The workers had challenged the state government's refusal to regularise their services under Haryana's Regularisation Policies of 2003 and 2004. While acknowledging that the state cannot be forced to implement a specific policy, Justice Moudgil emphasised that the government, guided by the Directive Principles of State Policy, is duty-bound to create policies that ensure a secure and conducive work environment for its employees.
Continuity of Service and Flawed State Arguments
The judgment highlighted that several petitioners were earlier illegally terminated from service. They were later reinstated by labour court awards, which granted them continuity of service—a decision subsequently upheld by the high court. Despite this judicial recognition of uninterrupted service, the forest department denied them regularisation.
The department had cited reasons such as a lack of sanctioned posts, alleged breaks in service, and the withdrawal of the regularisation policy in 2007. The court firmly rejected these arguments. It ruled that once continuity of service is judicially granted, employees must be treated as having remained in service without interruption for all benefits, including regularisation.
Justice Moudgil also criticised the state for taking contradictory stands regarding the availability of service records. The court noted the government's failure to justify why other similarly situated employees had been regularised while the petitioners were left out.
A Crystallised Right to Regularisation
The court observed that the government cannot deny relief to workers who have rendered more than two decades of service with the state's full knowledge, especially when regularisation policies were in force during their employment. Calling the state's conduct arbitrary and in violation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, the judgment stated that the petitioners had acquired a legitimate and crystallised right to be considered for regularisation under the 2003 policy.
This right accrued because they had fulfilled all eligibility conditions before the policy's withdrawal in 2007. The High Court has now directed the Haryana government to regularise the petitioners' services and extend all consequential benefits to them. This ruling provides much-needed relief to workers who, as noted by the court, were forced into prolonged litigation for rights that should have been granted long ago.
Lead by Example: A Message to Government Departments
In a powerful concluding observation, Justice Sandeep Moudgil underscored that it is imperative for government departments to lead by example in providing fair and stable employment. By ensuring just employment practices, government institutions can reduce the burden of unnecessary litigation, promote job security, and uphold the very principles of justice and fairness they are meant to embody.
This ruling sets a significant precedent, reinforcing the rights of daily-wage workers against arbitrary state action and emphasising the moral and constitutional obligation of the government to protect its long-serving employees.
