M.R.SHAH, J. - (1.) Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in CWP No. 9167 of 2007 and CWP No.6854 of 2008 by which the High Court has modified the judgment and order passed by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal in O.A. No.886/CH/2005 and consequently has directed the appellants to revisit the whole issue, complete the exercise to reformulate their regularization/absorption policy and take a decision to sanction the posts in a phased manner, the Union of India and others have preferred the present appeal. The High Court has further directed that till the exercise, as directed above, is undertaken, the appellants shall continue the employees in service with their current status but to those of them who have completed 20 years as part-time daily wagers shall be granted "minimum " basic pay of Group 'D ' posts w.e.f. 01.04.2015 and/or the date of completion of 20 years contractual service, whichever is later.
(2.) That the respondents herein are/were working as contingent paid part-time Sweepers (Safai Karamcharies working for less than five hours a day) in a Post Office at Sector-14, Chandigarh. That the respondents approached the Central Administrative Tribunal being O.A. No.886/CH/2005 seeking directions to frame a regularization/absorption policy for regularization of their service. Alternatively, a direction for grant of temporary status w.e.f. 19.11.1989. The said O.A. was opposed by the department. Written statement was filed stating that the respondents -original applicants are contingent paid Safaiwalas working for less than five hours and, therefore, are not entitled for temporary status. It was further stated that there is no regular sanctioned post of Safaiwala in that particular Post Office in Chandigarh. 2.1 An O.M. dated 11.12.2006 was issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (DoPT), Government of India by which regularization of qualified workers appointed against sanctioned posts in irregular manner was declared. A regularization policy was framed considering the decision of this Court in the case of Secretary, State of Karnataka and Ors. Vs. Umadevi (3) and Ors., (2006) 4 SCC 1. It provided that the Union of India, the State Governments and their instrumentalities should take steps to regularize as a one-time measure the services of such irregularly appointed, qualified persons, in terms of the statutory requirement of the Rules for the posts, who have worked for ten years or more in duly sanctioned posts but not under cover of orders of the courts or of tribunals. As the respondents - original applicants were serving as part-time employees working for five hours a day and there were no regular sanctioned posts in the particular Post Office and so they were not granted the benefit of the said O.M. dated 11.12.2006. By the judgment and order dated 17.01.2007, the learned Tribunal disposed of the said O.A. rejecting the claim of the respondents for their regularization. However, the learned Tribunal observed that since the Department need the continuous service of Safaiwalas, they shall advertise this post to appoint regular Safaiwala through proper process of selection positively within three months. The learned Tribunal also further directed that the respondents herein may also be considered for such selection after providing age relaxation to them under the relevant rules keeping in view that they have been working for last so many years without interruption. Learned Tribunal also observed that till then they are at liberty to allow the respondents to continue to perform their duties with the present status (as part-time). Learned Tribunal also observed that in case a one-time scheme is formulated by the Department/Government in exercise of the directions of this Court in the case of Umadevi (supra), the respondents ' cases may also be considered for regularization, if they fulfill the required conditions as prescribed in the said scheme. 2.2 Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the judgment and order passed by the learned Tribunal dated 17.01.2007 passed in O.A. No. 886/CH/2005 both, the Union of India and the respondents herein - parttime employees filed their respective writ petitions before the High Court being CWP Nos. 9167 of 2007 and 6854 of 2008. At this stage, it is required to be noted that pursuant to the judgment and order passed by the learned Tribunal, the Department/Government was required to formulate the regularization scheme, which was not formulated and, therefore, the contempt proceedings were initiated. By its order dated 19.05.2014, the High Court issued a notice in the contempt proceedings to the Secretary (Post) and directed to place the scheme before the Court by 04.07.2014. In view of the abovesaid directions dated 19.05.2014, the Department formulated a policy for regularization of casual labourers considering the observations made by this Court in the case of Umadevi (supra) and subsequent to the O.M. of DoPT dated 11.12.2006 (referred to hereinabove) for the welfare of the casual labourers. 2.3 That by order dated 06.08.2014, the High Court directed the appellants to reconsider the claim of the respondents as per the new policy dated 30.06.2014. The authorities rejected the claim by order dated 11.09.2014 for the reasons that; (i) there are no sanctioned posts and (ii) employees have not completed 10 years of service as on 10.04.2006 namely, the date of decision of this Court in Umadevi (supra). 2.4 By the impugned common judgment and order, the High Court has disposed of the aforesaid writ petitions with the following directions:- "[22] We, thus, direct the petitioner-authorities to re-visit the whole issue in its right perspective and complete the exercise to re-formulate their policy and take a decision to sanction the posts in phased manner within a specified time schedule. Let such a decision be taken within a period of six months from the date of receiving a certified copy of this order. [23] Till the exercise as directed above, is undertaken, the respondents shall continue in service with their current status but those of them who have completed 20 years as part-time daily wagers, shall be granted 'minimum' basic pay of Group 'D' post(s) w.e.f. 1.4.2015 and/or the date of completion of 20 years contractual service, whichever is later. " 2.5 Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned common judgment and order passed by the High Court, the Union of India and others have preferred the present appeals.
(3.) At this stage, it is required to be noted that while issuing notice in the present appeals on 22.07.2016, this Court passed the following order:- "On hearing Mr. Ranjit Kumar, learned Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the petitioners, we are not inclined to interfere with the directions of the High Court in paragraph 23 for granting minimum basic pay to Group 'D' posts from a particular date to those who have completed 20 years of part-time daily wage service. The petitioners should carry out that direction. Insofar as the directions of the High Court to re-visit the whole issue of sanction of posts etc. and reformulation of policy are concerned, there appears some merits in the submission that the High Court should not have interfered in policy matters. Issue notice on the special leave petition in that respect as well as on the application for condonation of delay. The direction contained in paragraph 22 of the impugned order shall remain stayed until further orders. " ;