M G DATANIA Vs. RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals raise common questions regarding regularisation as regular mazdoors of ticca mazdoors engaged on daily-wage basis at the ahmedabad Branch of Reserve Bank of India (hereinafter referred to as "the bank"). Civil Appeals Nos. 7406 and 7407 of 1994 arise out of Special Civil application No. 4669 of 1987 filed in the Gujarat High Court by 35 such ticca mazdoors. The said application was allowed by the learned Single judge by his judgment dated 13/2/1991, whereby the Bank was directed to regularise the petitioners in that petition as mazdoors in regular employment work for the post of regular mazdoors and therefore the petitioners could not be denied regularisation.

(2.) In the writ petitions, the case of the petitioners who moved the High court, hereinafter referred to as "the petitioners", is that they had been selected for appointment on the post of regular mazdoors in the Bank and were placed on the waiting list. Since the posts of regular mazdoors were not available, they were not given employment as regular mazdoors and they have been working as ticca mazdoors on daily-wage basis since 1984. On 24/7/1987, the Bank sent a requisition to the local Employment Exchange, ahmedabad, to sponsor names for regular appointment on the post of peons and that since posts of peons were available for appointment, they claimed that they were entitled to be given regular employment on the said posts before an outsider could be considered for such appointment. In that context, the petitioners have submitted that the duties that were being discharged by the petitioners as ticca mazdoors were not different from those that were discharged by peons and that many times the petitioners, as ticca mazdoors, had performed the duties of peons. The writ petitions were contested by the bank. The case of the Bank was that there was no vacancy on the post of regular mazdoor and that the post of peons or darwans is different from that of regular mazdoor. It was submitted that a ticca mazdoor was engaged on daily-wage basis in a contingency arising on account of the absence of a regular mazdoor and that in the Bank mazdoors are employed in the cash/issue Department to assist the Coin-Note Examiners and that there is a specific ratio of 4 Coin-Note Examiners to one mazdoor which is required to be maintained for the smooth functioning of the Department. Since absenteeism prevails in this class of employees, particularly during certain seasons, in order to keep the work in the Cash/issue Department going on smoothly, the Bank has to engage, on purely casual basis, ticca mazdoors in contingencies in which the required strength of mazdoors to assist Coin-Note examiners in the Cash/issue Department is not available in spite of available leave reserves. Such requirement is highly contingent, uncertain and fluctuating. It was also pointed out by the Bank that at times ticca mazdoors are given work even during absenteeism of peons or darwans but it is stated that the ticca mazdoors who are employed in absence of peons or darwans do not perform and cannot be required to perform all functions of peon for darwan and that a ticca mazdoor who is given work of a peon does not perform and cannot be required to perform the following functions: (i) delivery of vouchers to Deposit Accounts Departments etc. ; (ii) taking cash for booking of air tickets etc. in respect of officers for official work; (iii) delivery of payment order to TCI; (iv) collecting railway tickets on behalf of officials of the Bank in whose cases arrangements for booking of rail tickets for official purposes has been made with TCI; and (v) handling the cases which are of secret/confidential nature.

(3.) It was also pointed out by the Bank that the minimum/maximum educational qualifications for recruitment of peons are Standard vii/matriculation whereas for mazdoors it is Standard IV/ix. As regards darwans, it was pointed out that in or about the year 1980 the existing darwan staff was bifurcated into two categories, namely, security guards and darwans and that the Central Office of the Bank took a decision that recruitment would be initially made to the cadre of darwans only and that the post of security guard should be treated as a promotional post and that all vacancies in the cadre of security guards should be filled from amongst darwans on the basis of seniority-cum-suitability and that recruitment to the cadre of darwans be made exclusively from ex-servicemen.