S PERUMAL Vs. GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ON consent, the writ petition is taken up for final hearing.

(2.) BOTH the writ petitions are filed to set aside the order of the first respondent in Letter No.34799/R1/2006-12, dated 16.07.2009 communicated through the 2nd respondent thereby declining to regularise the service of the petitioners, who are part time workers in the respondent Education Department. The petitioners herein were initially employed through Employment Exchange as Sweepers, Waterman and Waterwomen in the office of the third respondent vide the proceedings of the 3rd respondent dated 25.08.1994. The petitioners have been for more than 15 years continuously employed in such capacity as part time employees. While so, the petitioners herein approached the Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal Chennai, to bring them to regular time scale of pay. In pursuance of abolition of the Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal, the proceedings stands transferred to this Court and renumbered as W.P.No.35828 of 2006 and the same was disposed of on 12.09.2008 by directing the Government, who is the 4th respondent therein to consider the proposal sent by the District Educational Officer for regularising the petitioners as full time watchman/gardener/sweeper within the given time. The order was not complied with by the authority concerned within the given time. But, this impugned order came to be passed nearly one year, thereafter, in and under which the first respondent has communicated to the third respondent that as the petitioners have been employed as part time workers, their services cannot be regulairsed and the same was communicated by the second respondent to the petitioners by order dated 12.08.2009 and those orders are now challenged before this Court.

(3.) HOWEVER, the Additional Government Pleader would by relying upon the latest G.O.Ms.No.22 seek to justify the impugned order. It is true under G.O.Ms.No.22 the Government has directed absorption of all the daily wages employees in various departments and similar clarification was issued to G.O.Ms.No.22 in letter No.34799/R1/2006-12 dated 16.07.2009 that the part time employees are not eligible for absorption on time scale of pay as per G.o.Ms.No.22. The validity of the Government Order and the clarification letter above referred to came up for judicial review in batch of Writ Petitions and our High Court has by order dated 04.12.2008, after detailed discussion about all the relevant Government Orders observed that the G.O.Ms.No.22 has not superseded earlier G.O.Ms.No.528 Personnel and Administrative Reforms (PER.F.) Department and the conjoint reading of both the Government Orders along with the letters of clarification would lead to an inference that the part time employees, employed through employment exchange, who have been working for more than 10 years in various Government Departments are also, as that of daily wages employees, eligible for absorption on regular time scale of pay. In the same order our High Court has also referred to the earlier order passed by the single judge in W.P.(MD) No.11707 of 2006 dated 22.12.2006 as confirmed by the Division Bench of our High Court in W.A.(MD) No.391 of 2007 . As a matter of fact, the absorption so given in pursuance of the orders referred above was subsequently withdrawn by the Government and the same was again challenged in W.P.No.32446 of 2005 and the subsequent writ petition was disposed of on 01.0.2006 thereby confirming the earlier order of this Court directing regularisation of the concerned part time employees. The copy of the orders so made in favour of similarly placed persons are also enclosed in the typed set of papers filed by the petitioner herein.