SATRUGHANA MISHRA Vs. WATER AND LAND MGMT INSUTITUTE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) e petitioners in this writ application have prayed for regularisation of their services from the date of their initial appointment.

(2.) Case of the petitioners is that they were engaged as N.M.R. employees under the control of opposite party No. 1 since their date of appointment i.e. June 1, 1989. They have been continuing as such till date and they have not been regularised in service. During their employment they were being paid Rs. 25.00 per day and subsequently same has been enhanced to Rs. 950.00 per month and they are made to work at different Action Research Stations of the opposite party-Institute on transfer. While the petitioners were continuing as such, they represented to the opposite party No. 1 through opposite party No. 2 for regularisation of their services. Representations were forwarded by the opposite party No. 2 with recommendation for regularisation to opposite party No. 1, but the said representations have not been considered as yet. It appears that the representations were filed in 1994 and 1995 by the petitioners. It is alleged in the writ application that pending consideration of the representations of the petitioners, Sankarasan Jena and Govinda Chandra Sahoo were regularised even if they were engaged as N.M.R. much after the petitioners and had been placed below the petitioners in the seniority list of N.M.Rs. prepared by the opposite parties. In the list of N.M.Rs. the petitioners 1 and 2 have been placed at serials 41 and 42 respectively, whereas Sri Jena and Sahu have been placed at serials 59 and 66. It is also alleged in the writ application that some of the N.M.Rs. employees who have not completed 5 years of service also were sought to be disengaged and this Court directed their regularisation and some of them have already been regularised. The petitioners who appeared in person submit that they have crossed the upper age limit for any other job and it is not possible for them to maintain family with a meagre consolidated pay of Rs. 950.00 per month. It Is submitted by them that they have been working under the opposite party No. 1 since 1989 and they should be regularised in service, moreso when juniors to them have already been regularised.

(3.) Counter has been filed by the opposite parties 1 and 2. It is stated in the counter that the petitioner No. 1 was appointed as Irrigator on March 29, 1994 and was posted at Bhadrak Action Research Centre and has been working as Irrigator since then at different places. It is also stated in the counter that the petitioner No. 2 is also working as Irrigator. There are 14 numbers of Irrigators working at WALMI out of which 13 numbers are working at different stations spread all over the State.