INDU VERMA Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners, who are working on different posts in the office of District Attorney, Amritsar and Patiala, have filed the present writ petition, praying that all the Saturdays in every month be declared as closed days, as declared by the State of Punjab for other offices. The submission is that in the Courts only second Saturday is observed as holiday and the petitioners are required to work on other Saturdays. Even on the dates when there is holiday in the State but the Courts are open, the petitioners are required to work but no extra remuneration is being paid. While referring to judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Municipal Employees Union (Registered) Sirhind and others v. State of Punjab and others, 2000 9 SCC 432, the submission is that the petitioners are required to be paid extra remuneration for working on Saturdays.

(2.) Learned counsel for the State submitted that the notification which is sought to be relied upon by the petitioners provided that in case all the Saturdays were declared holidays, the working hours of the offices are to be from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm with lunch break of half an hour. In the present case the working hours of the staff working in the office of District Attorney is from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm. It was further submitted that the case of the petitioners was considered by a High Level Committee presided over by the then Chief Secretary and it was found that the petitioners cannot be compared with the staff working in the office of Director, Prosecution and Litigation, Punjab, Chandigarh, as both the cadres are different. Hence, no case of interference is made out in the present writ petition.

(3.) The case of the petitioners is based upon a notification dated 7.4.1980 issued by the State Government vide which all the Saturdays were declared holidays with the condition that the working hours shall be from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm with lunch break of half an hour. The petitioners herein are working in the office of District Attorney, Amritsar and Patiala. Their working is related with the working conditions in the Courts. By notification dated 17.4.2009, the working hours of the staff working in the office of District Attorney of the State of Punjab were fixed from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm i.e. one hour less than the working hours fixed for the staff where all the Saturdays were declared closed. It is not disputed that second Saturday is observed holiday in the office of District Attorney, as it is a close day in the Courts.