Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 15: The Division Bench of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi, has ruled that services of casual workers can only be continued based on necessity and subject to government funding. Furthermore, the court emphasized that casual workers, who had worked for a period of one and a half years, have no entitlement to regularization. The government's decision to disengage/cancel the engagement of such workers was deemed appropriate by the court.
The case pertained to the engagement of casual workers in the Health Department following Government Order No.585-HME of 2014 dated October 17, 2014, which provided for the hiring of 1284 casual workers as Nursing Orderlies for newly upgraded/opened health institutions, at notified minimum wages.
The petitioners, engaged as casual workers in 2014/2015 by the Chief Medical Officer, Ganderbal, contended that their continuous service entitled them to regularization. However, the court upheld the judgment of the Writ Court, dismissing the appeals filed by the petitioners.
While dismissing the appeals, the Division Bench directed the respondents to ensure that the wages legitimately earned by the appellants for the period they worked, including the period covered by interim orders passed by the court, be released within four weeks from the date of the judgment.
The ruling underscores the principle that casual workers do not have an inherent right to regularization and that their engagement is contingent upon specific needs and budgetary allocations by the government. |
