ASHOK KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution by six persons working as Beldars in the office of the Executive Engineer, P.W.D. (B and R) in the Haryana Government, seeking a direction to the respondents (State of Haryana; Engineer-in-Chief, P.W.D.; and Executive Engineer, P.W.D.) to regularise the services of the petitioners.

(2.) The petitioners are working as Beldars on daily wages at the rate fixed by the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala Cantt. The Government of Haryana took a policy decision to regularise the services of those daily-wage workers and casual workers who have completed three years of service as on 31-1-1996. In the cases of the petitioners, there were small breaks in their services. Those breaks did not occur on account of any fault of the petitioners. It has been alleged by the petitioners that the respondents deliberately did not employ the petitioner during certain break periods and thus there were breaks in services. The petitioners have prayed that they may be treated to be in continuous service for purposes of regularisation. The services of the petitioners were not being regularised on account of break in service for more than one month. The petitioners have asserted that they had completed more than 3 years of service as on 31-1-1996 and they are, therefore, entitled to regularisation.

(3.) The respondents have, in their joint reply, stated that break in service for more than one month at a time was a bar to the grant of regular status in service. All the petitioners are said to have not completed three years of service as on 31-1-1996 and have also not completed 240 days in each year. Since the petitioners had break in service of more than one month at a time, and they were wilfully absent from service, their period of absence from duty could not be counted towards continuous service.