- विज्ञापन -
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has ordered the regularization of daily wage employees of HRTC after completion of eight years of service. In an important decision, the court ordered the transport corporation to regularize the employees on or before June 30 and release all the benefits. This order was passed by a division bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma while disposing of all the petitions together. The court clarified that the actual financial benefits will be given to the petitioners up to three years before the date of filing the petition. The financial benefits before that will be considered only on a notional basis.
The corporation had terminated the services of these employees on different dates, against which they filed a petition in the Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labor Court. The tribunal, giving its verdict in their favor, directed to reinstate them with seniority and continuity of service. However, without any back pay. The petition stated that after the orders of the tribunal, the matter was placed before the Board of Directors of the corporation, but even after that, they were not regularized on completion of eight years of service. The court clarified that when a particular group gets judicial relief, other employees in similar circumstances should also get the same benefit, otherwise it would be discrimination and violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
The bench expressed displeasure over the tendency of the state government and its officials to exploit employees under the guise of temporary appointments (such as contract, ad hoc, daily wages). Calling it an exploitative practice, the court said that this case is also an example of the same, which reflects the tendency of the state to avoid responsibilities.
