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PETITIONER: JAGRIT MAZDOOR UNION (REGD.) & ORS. ETC. ETC.

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: MAHANAGAR TELEPHONE NIGAM LTD. & ANR.ETC. ETC.

DATE OF JUDGMENT29/11/1989

BENCH: MISRA RANGNATH BENCH: MISRA RANGNATH SAWANT, P.B. RAMASWAMY, K.

CITATION:  1989 SCR  Supl. (2) 329  1990 SCC  Supl.  113  JT 1989  Supl.    364    1989 SCALE  (2)1455

ACT:     Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status)  Regulation Scheme,     1989.’    Reserve   Trained    Pool    Telephone Operators--Regularisation of--Directions by Court.

HEADNOTE:     The Petitioners in first two Writ Petitions are  Reserve Trained  Pool  Telephone  Operators (RTPTOS)  of  Delhi  and Bombay Mahanagar Telephones who are seeking directions  that after  their absorption as regular employees  following  the implementation  of  the  directions  of  this  Court   dated 28.7.1986  in  an earlier Writ Petition No.  11764  of  1985 filed by the All India Telegraph Engineering Employees Union Class  III  of Bombay Telephones, they are  entitled  to  be brought on par with the regular Staff for grant of all other service benefits as well since they have been performing the same duties as performed by regular operators.     The  other  two Petitions pertain to the  Department  of Posts. One is by the Reserve Trained Pool Operators  (RTPOS) and the other by the Substitute Employees and Casual Labour- ers in that Department. While the RTPOS have claimed  relief of being placed at par with regular, permanent or  temporary employees  in the matter of service conditions, the  substi- tute employees and casual labourers claim that they be  paid the same emoluments as the regular employees. Disposing of the Petitions, this Court,     HELD:  The  scheme known as Casual Labourers  (Grant  of Temporary  Status in Regularisation) Scheme has been  formu- lated  and put into operation from 1.10.1989. Hence no  fur- ther  specific direction is necessary as regards  applicants covered  by the Telephone Nigams of Delhi and Bombay  except calling upon the respondents 10 implement every term of  the Scheme at an early date. [332E-F] As per existing recruitment rules, extra-departmental agents are 330 given  preference in the matter of absorption as  Group  ’D’ postmen.  Directions  have  already been  issued  for  their absorption against the vacancies. [333H]     The  claim  to bonus may be left to arbitration  or  for being dealt with by a Consultative Council. [334F]

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   After  rendering three years of continuous service  with temporary  status, the casual labourers shall be treated  at par with temporary Grade ’D’ employees of the Department  of Posts and would thereby be entitled to such benefits as  are admissible to Group ’D’ employees on regular basis. [335B]

JUDGMENT:     CIVIL  ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition No. 1119  of 1986 etc. etc. (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India).     G.  Ramaswamy, A.S.G., N.C. Sikri, N.S. Das  Bahl,  B.D. Sharma,  Ms.  Madhu Sikri, B.W. Vaidya, R.B. Misra,  Ms.  A. Subhashini  (not present) and Dalveer Bhandari for  the  ap- pearing parties. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by     RANGANATH  MISRA,  J. The first  of  these  applications under Art. 32 of the Constitution is on behalf of the  Delhi Reserve Trained Pool Telephone Operators (RTPTOs) asking for a  direction  to the Mahanagar Telephone  Nigam  Limited  to treat all the telephone operators at par after their absorp- tion  as regular employees. Three letters addressed  to  the learned  Chief  Justice of this Court have been  treated  as writ  petitions and are the remaining one under Art.  32  of the Constitution. The first one (1276/86) is by the  Reserve Trained  Pool Telephone Operators of Bombay. They claim  the self-same  relief  as  asked for in the  earlier  case;  the second  one  (1623/86) is on behalf of the  Reserve  Trained Pool   Operators  in  the  Department  of  Posts  and   they have  .claimed relief of being placed at par  with  regular, permanent  or temporary employees in the matter  of  service conditions. The third one (1624/86) is on behalf of  substi- tute  employees  and casual labourers in the  Department  of Posts.  They  have  claimed that  substitute  employees  and casual  labourers  be paid the same  emoluments  as  regular employees. 331     In  an earlier Writ Petition No. 11764 of 1985 filed  by the  All India Telegraph Engineering Employees  Union  Class III  of Bombay Telephone where the prayer for  treating  the Reserve Trained Pool Telephone Operators at par with regular staff had also been asked for, this Court made the following order on 1.5. 1986:               "The  matter  is adjourned to  28.7.  1986  to               enable the newlyadded respondent No. 3 to file               counter-affidavit  on  or before  15.7.  1986.               Rejoinder,  if any, will be filed  within  one               week  thereafter.  Meanwhile,  the  respondent               will  pay  to  the operators  drawn  from  the               Reserve  Trained Pool of the Telephone  Opera-               tors from Bombay and Delhi Telephones  Rs.4.90               per hour provided that the total salary of the               Telephone  Operators from the Reserve  Trained               Pool shall not exceed the salary of  regularly               appointed Telephone Operators." On  23.7.  1986, this Court in that  Writ  Petition  further ordered:               "The  order passed by the Court on  1.5.  1986               shall  be  final. The wages shall be  paid  in               accordance  with the terms contained  in  that               order. We, however, make it clear that if  the               Dearness  Allowance and other  allowances  are               varied  hereafter the workers concerned  shall               get  D.A.  and  other  allowances  accordingly

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             subject to the limit that the total emoluments               would  not  exceed  the  salary  of  regularly               appointed  Telephone Operators. If  the  peti-               tioners  have any other grievance they are  at               liberty  to agitate. This order will apply  to               all    RTPA   employees   who’are    similarly               situated."     It  is the stand of the respondents that that  order  of this Court has been implemented with effect from 28.7. 1986. After that was done, the RTPTOs of Bombay and Delhi have  in their respective Writ Petitions applied for further  reliefs as already indicated. According to the petitioners in  these two Writ Petitions, the RTPTOs are entitled to be brought on par with the regular staff for grant of other service  bene- fits  as they have been performing the same duties  as  per- formed by regular operators.     The  two  petitions have been opposed  by  the  relevant Ministry by filing counter-affidavits where the stand  taken is that RTPTOs are a special class by themselves with  their own  incidents of service and they cannot be treated at  par with  regular  employees. The differences  between  the  two services have been highlighted in the counter-affidavits. 332 It  is also the stand of the respondents that the  order  of this  Court referred to above dated 28.7.1986  finally  dis- posed of the major claim raised in the two petitions of  the employees  of the two Telephone Nigams and fresh action  was not  appropriate.  It is also pointed out that  on  10th  of February, 1986, there was an agreement of settlement and the present  petition  was an attempt to reopen the  matter.  On 31.1. 1989, when Writ Petition No. 1276 of 1986 came up  for hearing before this Court, the following order was made:               "Learned counsel for the petitioners  concedes               that the regularisation of 21,000 employees in               the Department of Telecommunications has  been               effected but complains that no such proceeding               has  taken  place  in respect  of  the  postal               employees.  He states that there  is  pressing               need  for a parity of service  conditions  in-               cluding  pay, house rent allowance  and  other               allowances between the temporary employees and               the regular employees covered by this  catego-               ry.  The learned Additional Solicitor  General               of  India assures us that the scheme  will  be               finalised latest by first week of April,  1989               and  that  complete position  will  be  placed               before the Court at that stage  ......  "     The scheme known as Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status in Regularisation) Scheme has been formulated and put into  operation from 1.10. 1989 and a copy thereof has  been placed  for  our consideration. We find that the  scheme  is comprehensive  and  apart from provision for  conferment  of temporary  status, it also specifies the benefits  available on  conferment of such status. Counsel for  the  respondent- Nigams  have  told  us that the scheme will  be  given  full effect  and other benefits contemplated by the scheme  shall be  worked out. In these circumstances, no further  specific direction  is necessary in the two applications relating  to the  two Nigams of Bombay and Delhi except calling upon  the respondents  to  implement every term of the  scheme  at  an early date.     The  two remaining writ petitions relate to the  Depart- ment of Posts. Though an assurance had been held out by  the learned Additional Solicitor General that a separate  scheme for the postal employees would be prepared and placed before

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the  Court within a time frame, that has not been  done.  At the  hearing,  a note containing tentative proposals  and  a statement  as to what has been done by way of improving  the conditions of service have, however, been placed before  the Court. The statement relating to improvements brought about 333 indicates that after April, 1986, about seven thousand  RTPs have  been absorbed. Since the RTP category is no  more  ex- panding, only about 2,900 of them remain to be absorbed.  We have  been told by learned counsel for the  Department  that equal number of justified and supernumerary posts are  being created  and the Ministry’s proposal is in the hands of  the Ministry  of  Finance  for approval and is  expected  to  be finalised soon. This has to be done within a time frame. and we direct the posts of both the categories to be created  by the  end of January, 1990, and the process of absorption  to be  completed by 31.3. 1990. With such absorption made,  the RTPs will become regular employees. All their claims  would, thereafter,  be  regulated on the basis  of  entitlement  in accordance with extant rules.     So  far  as the claim of earned leave is  concerned,  we find  that Telecommunications Regularisation  Rules  provide for  leave entitlement on pro-rate basis--one day for  every ten  days of work. The same benefit would be  admissible  to the  employees  of  the Department of Posts as  we  find  no reason to adopt a different basis.     In  National  Federation of P & T Employees  &  Anr.  v. Union of India & Anr., [1988] 1 SCC 122, this Court  direct- ed:               "The Union of India and other respondents  are               directed  to pay wages to the workmen who  are               employed as casual labourers belonging to  the               several  categories of employees in the  Posts               and Telegraphs Department at the rates equiva-               lent  to the minimum pay in the pay scales  of               the  regularly employed workers in the  corre-               sponding  cadres  but without  any  increments               with  effect  from February 5, 1986  on  which               date  the  first of the above  two  petitions,               namely,  Writ  Petition No. 302  of  1986  was               filed. The petitioners are entitled to  corre-               sponding  dearness  allowance  and  additional               dearness  allowance, if any, payable  thereon.               Whatever  other benefits which are  now  being               enjoyed by the casual labourers shall continue               to be extended to them ."     It  has been stated that in compliance with that  direc- tion  the  Department  has alredy formulated  a  scheme  for absorption  of casual labourers and about a thousand  justi- fied  posts are being created with concurrence of the  nodal Ministry.  As per existing recruitment rules,  extra-depart- mental agents are given preference in the matter of  absorp- tion  as  Group ’D’ postmen. Directions  have  already  been issued  for their absorption against the vacancies.  It  has been pointed out 334 again  that  casual  labourers are being  paid  bonus  while substitutes are not entitled under the existing scheme.               The other note placed before us at the bearing               indicates:               1.  Justified (by necessity) posts  in  Groups               ’C’ and ’D’ will be created in the administra-               tive  and operative establishments as per  the               existing  norms for creation of posts in  con-               sultation with the Finance Ministry,

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             2. On creation of the posts, recruitment  will               be  done  following the  existing  recruitment               rules giving preference to  extra-departmental               agents over casual labourers;               3.  If  on  the basis  of  established  norms,               casual labourers are in excess, their services               shall  be  dispensed with in  accordance  with               law; and               4.  If  any  casual labourers  cannot  be  re-               trenched  straightaway,  they  shall  be  paid               wages for three months at the existing rates.     This  tentative  scheme does not take into  account  the several  specific claims advanced by the petitioners in  the two  writ  petitions. These are House Rent  Allowance,  City Compensatory  Allowance, Bonus and Earned Leave.  There  are also demands for weekly off day, postal holiday and materni- ty  leave.  Weekly off has now been given  to  RTPs,  casual labourers and substitutes under order of this court and  the claim  does  not survive for adjudication. All  these  three categories in these two writ petitions are also being  given three national Holidays. For the remaining postal  holidays, the claim has been pressed but we are of the view that until absorption,  they  may not be granted. It  has  been  agreed before us that the claim of bonus may be left to arbitration or for being dealt with by the Consultative Council.     As  regards  House Rent  Allowances,  City  Compensatory Allowance and Maternity Leave, we see. no justification  for treating the employees of the Postal Department  differently from  those  covered under the Regularisation Rules  in  the Telecommunications  Department.  Temporary status  would  be available  to the casual labourers in the Postal  Department on  completion  of one year of continuous  service  with  at least  240  days of work (206 days in the case  of  officers observing  five days’ week) and on conferment  of  temporary status, House Rent Allowance and City Compensatory Allowance shall be 335 admissible.  There  would be no  justification  to  withhold Maternity  Leave  as that is an obligation of  the  employer under the law and the State as an ideal employer  fulfilling the Directive Principles of State Policy envisaged in  Part- IV  of the Constitution should provide the same. After  ren- dering  three  years of continuous  service  with  temporary status,  the casual labourers shall be treated at  par  with temporary Grade ’D’ employees of the Department of Posts and would thereby be entitled to such benefits as are admissible to Group ’D’ employees on regular basis.     So  far  as the substitutes are concerned, it  has  been stated  to us that orders have been issued  for  considering their  claims against Group ’D’ vacancies and a copy of  the Department’s  letter  has been produced. We hope  and  trust that the direction shall be implemented in its true  spirit. The claim on behalf of substitutes ordinarily is not  enter- tainable  but we have been told that there  are  substitutes who  work for long periods continuously. We are inclined  to agree  with counsel for the petitioners that in  such  cases their  claims should have been appropriately  considered  by the Department.     The  writ petitions are disposed of with  the  aforesaid directions without any order as to costs. R.N.J.                                       Petitions  dis- posed of. 336

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