Kailash Sarma and 8 Ors v. The State of Assam and 4 Ors

ORDER

20.12.2023 Heard Mr. P. K. Munir, learned counsel for the writ petitioners. Also heard Mr. K. P. Pathak, learned Standing Counsel, APDCL appearing for the respondent Nos.2 to 5. Ms. A. Talukdar, learned Govt. Advocate, Assam is present on behalf of respondent No.1. The writ petitioners herein are all contractual workers working as Meter Readers and Bill Clerks under the APDCL. As per the case projected in the writ petition, Page No.# 5/6 all the petitioners have been working continuously for more than 10 years. They have the requisite qualification to be regularly appointed as Meter Readers and Bill Clerks. As such, a prayer has been made in the writ petition to issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to regularise the services of the petitioners as Meter Readers and Bill Clerks. Mr. Munir, learned counsel for the petitioners has also relied upon and referred to the order dated 03.01.2022 passed by this Court in WP(C) No.1241/2020, WP(C) No.1813/2020 and WP(C) No.1332/2020 to submit that similar writ petitions have already been disposed of by this Court with a direction upon the respondents to consider the case of those writ petitioners for regularisation. As such, a similar order be passed in the present case as well. Responding to the above, Mr. K. P. Pathak, learned departmental counsel submits that although the case of the writ petitioners in the earlier batch of writ petitions was duly considered by the authorities in terms of the order dated

03.01.2022, yet, due to financial constraints, their services could not be regularised. However, taking note of the ground realities and the predicament faced by the casual workers/outsourced workers such as the petitioners, the company has recently issued an Office Order dated 02.12.2023 enhancing the remuneration of the outsourced workers who are getting direct payment from the APDCL. As such, if an order is passed to that effect, the case of the writ petitioners herein will also be considered for extending the benefit of the Office Order dated 02.12.2023. Mr. Munir, learned counsel for the petitioners has agreed to such an order. In view of the above, this writ petition is disposed of by providing that the APDCL may examine the cases of all the nine petitioners individually and if found to be Page No.# 6/6 genuine, the benefit of enhanced pay scale as notified by the Office Order dated 02.12.2023, be extended to them.. The aforesaid exercise be carried out and completed, as expeditiously as possible, but not later than 60 days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. With the above observation, this writ petition stands disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/6 GAHC010031862023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/1079/2023o KAILASHoSARMAoANDo8oORSo SONoOFoLATEoGOPESWARoSARMA,o RESIDENToOFoVILL.oGAMARIMURI,o POSToOFFICE-oKAITHALKUCHI,oPOLICEoSTATION-oBELSOR,o DISTRICT-oNALBARI,oPIN-o781370,oASSAM. 2:oBIKASHoBARMAN oSONoOFoLATEoSURENoBARMAN o RESIDENToOFoVIL.oCHAMATA o POSToOFFICE-oCHAMATA oPOLICEoSTATION-oBELSOR o o 3:oPRADIPoBARMAN oSONoOFoLATEoLOHIToBARMAN o RESIDENToOFoVILL.-oRUPIABATHAN o POSToOFFICE-oCHAMATA oPOLICEoSTATION-oBELSOR o o 4:oRAMESWARoBARMAN oSONoOFoLATEoBAGARAMoBARMAN PageoNo.#o2/6 o RESIDENToOFoVILLAGE-oGAMARIMURI o POSToOFFICE-oKAITHALKUCHI o POLICEoSTATIONoBELSOR o oPIN-o781370 o 5:oNAZMALoHUSSAIN oSONoOFoLATEoTALEBoALI o RESIDENToOFoVILL.oCHAMATA o POSToOFFICE-oPASCHIMoCHAMATA o POLICEoSTATION-oBELSOR o o 6:oPANKAJoDEKA oSONoOFoLATEoATULoDEKA o RESIDENToOFoVILLAGE-oBARNARDDI o POSToOFFICE-oBARNARDDI o POLICEoSTATION-oBELSOR o oPINo-o781303 o 7:oMAKIBoALI oSONoOFoLATEoMAKSHEDoALI o RESIDENToOFoVILLAGE-oBATSOR o POSToOFFICE-oBARNARDDI o POLICEoSTATION-oBELSOR PageoNo.#o3/6 o oPINo-o781303 o 8:oKANIKAoDEKA oSONoOFoLATEoDEBENDRAoNATH o RESIDENToOFoVILL.oBANGAON o POSToOFFICE-oBANAGRAM o POLICEoSTATION-oBELSOR oDISTRICT-oNALBARI oPIN-o781303 o 9:oFAIDULoHUSSAIN oSONoOFoLATEoMAFIZUDDINoAHMED o RESIDENToOFoVILL.oCHAMATA o POSToOFFICE-oPACHIMoCHAMATA o POLICEoSTATION-oBELSOR o o ASSAMo VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo4oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARY,o POWERo(ELECTRICITY)oDEPARTMENT,o ASSAMoSECRETARIAT,oDISPUR,o GUWAHATI,oPIN-o781006. 2:THEoMANAGINGoDIRECTOR oASSAMoPOWERoDISTRIBUTIONoCOMPANYoLIMITED oBIJULEEoBHAWAN oPALTANoBAZAR o GUWAHATI oPIN-o781001. Page No.# 4/6 3:THE CHAIRMAN ASSAM POWER DISTRIBUTION COMPANY LIMITED BIJULEE BHAWAN PALTANBAZAR GUWAHATI PIN- 781001. 4:THE CHIEF GENERAL MANAGER HRA ASSAM POWER DISTRIBUTION COMPANY LIMITED BIJULEE BHAWAN PALTANBAZAR GUWAHATI PIN- 781001. 5:THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER NALBARI ELECTRICAL DIVISION APDCL NALBARI ASSAM Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. T K MISRA Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SUMAN SHYAM