BABITA RANI Vs. GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioners in these Petitions have prayed for regularisation of their services as TB Health Visitors/Laboratory Technicians. All of them have been working on so-called contractual terms for several years. In a few cases some of them have been engaged by Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) other than the Delhi Tapedik Unmulan Samiti (DTUS), but in the aforementioned job prescription. Their consolidated salary has also been paid by the Respondents. The Prayers made in the Petitions are reproduced in juxtaposition: CW No.3568/03 & 5744-71/05 CW No.6783-830/05 i. Direct the respondents to treat the Petitioners at par with regular employees with all monetary consequential benefits i.e. equal pay for equal work provident fund, gratuity, seniority the benefits; and ii. Direct the respondents to not terminate the Petitioners till regular appointments are made by the respondents and the Petitioners shall be given the benefit of their service in preferential treatment in appointment giving them age relaxation etc. iii. Pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case; i. Issue a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of Mandamus to direct the respondents to treat the Petitioners at par with regular employees with all monetary consequential benefits i.e. equal pay for equal work provident fund, gratuity, seniority the benefits; and ii. Direct the respondents to Regularise the services of the petitioners. iii. Pass such other order or orders, as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case;

(2.) The Petitioners have also placed reliance on the decision dated 9.2.2005 in WP(C) No. 1929/1998 & 2510-2529/2005 entitled Chandra Prakash Gupta vs. MCD where it had been noted that some of the Petitioners have been working from 1996 as TB Health Visitors on a fixed monthly salary of Rs.4,000/- per month. Their salaries have been paid by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)and the Petitioners have been assigned to various Societies or NGOs who were engaged in the eradication of Tuberculosis. It had been recorded that the MCD receives funds from various organisations such as the World Bank, British Overseas Development Agency, etc. but the alleged temporary nature of the funding had not deterred the Court from passing orders regularising the services of the Petitioners. The argument that the regularisation of some other TB Health Visitors would not justify passing similar orders in favour of the Petitioners, as no regular vacancies were available, was rejected. The Court also emphasised the fact that the Petitioners had cleared Interviews, Medical Test as well as Police Verification before their `contractual' engagement came into existence. The Petitions were allowed and a direction was issued to regularise their services and fix their seniority from the date on which they had reported for duty. Learned counsel for the Respondents have made a futile attempt to distinguish the decision in Chandra Prakash Delhi presently has a population of approximately two crores, with at least a hundred Organisations working for the eradication of TB. On the strength of available figures, it appears that there is need for three hundred such organisations. Along with the increase in population there will always be an increasing number of TB patients requiring medical assistance. International Bodies such as the World Bank, justify if not owe their existence to the need to provide finances for large scale activity such as the momentous schemes for the eradication of Tuberculosis. There is a global thinking that in combating diseases of this nature, countries and organisations are not extending charity but are only fulfilling their basic obligations to mankind. It will be difficult for any international or national organisation which is funding these projects for the eradication of TB, Dengu, Malaria, etc. to justify refusal to make any financial allocations in the future. It is, therefore, a sterile argument that the present activities, in which the Petitioners are engaged, are dependent on funding from charities. Assuming that the World Bank or the British Overseas Development Agency stops or reduces its allocation it will always remain the constitutional obligation of the State to continue projects which have the objective of remedying or eradicating highly communicable and contagious diseases. Therefore, it cannot possibly be argued that the requirements of TB Health Visitors/Laboratory Technicians is seasonal, or temporary.

(3.) In the RNTCP Performance Report, India Fourth Quarter, 2004 the Director General of Health Services has stated that RNTCP covers 87% (947 million) of India's population, and it is planned that the entire country would be covered by June, 2005. In December, 2003 there was a coverage of 778 million persons and it has increased to 947 million by December, 2004. In the Counter Affidavit it has been admitted that the hard fact is that Tuberculosis remains a big public health problem in India killing more people than HIV, STD, Malaria, Leprosy and tropical diseases combined. India has maximum number of T.B. cases in the world having one third of global burden of T.B. 40% of our population is infected with the T.B. germs causing one death per minute in India. 218 new T.B. cases are added every year in one lac of population, even though the disease is fully curable by taking 3-5 drugs regularly in right dose for a period of 6-8 months. If the drugs are not properly administered during the prescribed period, the germs become resistant and the drugs become ineffective.